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PAKISTAN-POLITICS-SHARIF-KULSOOM-DEATH
Pakistan’s jailed former PM released on parole for wife’s funeral
ISLAMABAD, Sept 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistan’s jailed former Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter have been temporarily released on
parole for the funeral of his wife, government and party sources said
Wednesday.
Kulsoom Nawaz died of cancer in London on Tuesday, two months after her
husband and daughter returned to Pakistan and were immediately jailed for
corruption.
Sharif had travelled home in a bid to rally support for his Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party days before a bitterly fought general
election.
Handout pictures released by PML-N on Wednesday showed Sharif and his
daughter Maryam aboard a plane after their release late Tuesday and arriving
in the city of Lahore, where the former first lady’s funeral will be held.
The pair “have initially been released for 12 hours to attend the funeral
but the release can be extended by the home department”, an official at
Rawalpindi central jail told AFP.
Local media reported the funeral would be held on Friday, with their
parole likely to last until after the service concluded.
Sharif’s wife Nawaz, 68, had been at her husband’s side throughout his
decades-long political career, which saw him elected prime minister of
Pakistan three times.
She was diagnosed with lymphoma in August last year and had been receiving
treatment at a private hospital in London for months.
Sharif was ousted from his third premiership by the Supreme Court a month
before his wife’s diagnosis.
Conspiracy theories claiming that Nawaz was actually healthy, and that the
Sharifs were faking her illness to gain sympathy, swirled in the final weeks
of Pakistan’s acrimonious election campaign.
Sharif had been banned from contesting the poll but maintained control
over his party through his brother. His return was seen as a failed gamble to
salvage his political legacy.
He has engaged in a war of words with Pakistan’s military establishment
since his dismissal last year, accusing the military of engineering his fall
from power, curbing democracy and fostering links with militants.
New Prime Minister Imran Khan, a former cricket hero who had campaigned
against the Sharifs for his entire 22-year political career, sent his
condolences Tuesday.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1204 hrs