The government on Tuesday dismissed the impression of placing restrictions on the arrival of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his sons — Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz — and former finance minister Ishaq Dar for the funeral of Begum Shamim Akhtar, the mother of Sharif brothers who passed away in London on Sunday.
Nawaz has been living in London since November last year when he was released on conditional medical bail for his treatment abroad. Dar, on the other hand, has taken self-exile in the United Kingdom after his removal from the post of Finance Minister in 2017 following the emergence of allegations of accumulation of assets beyond means against him. Both of them are wanted back home in multiple cases of graft and abuse of power
Speculations arose after the sudden demise of Akhtar, who had travelled to London in February to live with her son, whether or not Nawaz and Dar will return to attend the funeral.
Later on Sunday, Nawaz’s daughter and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz, in a tweet, said she had advised her father not to return because of what she claimed was the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government’s vendetta against the Sharif family.
“They are welcome to come to Pakistan and attend the funeral,” Minister for Information Shibli Faraz said on Tuesday.
In a tweet, Faraz warned the opposition party of trying to politicise the matter. “The narrative of state suppression is deliberate propaganda and an attempt to politicise this issue. Who are you trying to fool?”
Meanwhile, arrangements are being made to bring the body back to Lahore within a couple of days to be buried next to the grave of her husband, Mian Sharif, at the family’s Jati Umra residence.
