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Dawn.com
LONDON
HUNDREDS of people including PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar and other members of the Sharif family attended the funeral of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz — the wife of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif — at London's Regent Park mosque on Thursday, according to DawnNewsTV.
The funeral in London, which is separate from another set to take place in Lahore on Friday, was arranged since the deceased PML-N leader's sons Hasan and Hussain cannot travel to Pakistan, a PML-N leader earlier told Dawn. Their sister Asma also attended the funeral in London.
Shahbaz had travelled to London, where he arrived on Wednesday evening, to take Begum Kulsoom's body back to Lahore for burial.
Sources in the family confirmed that Begum Kulsoom's casket will be flown to Lahore on PIA flight (PK-758) which will depart from Heathrow Airport at 6:15pm (BST).
The sources said the family had received a death certificate issued by the private hospital where Begum Kulsoom Nawaz breathed her last on Tuesday, and the"out-of-England"letter from the coroner's court, paving the way for the departure of her body to Lahore this evening.
Earlier in the day, Nawaz, who was released from Adiala Jail on parole in order to attend the funeral of his wife in Lahore, paid a visit to Sharif Medical City to oversee arrangements for his deceased wife's last rites.
Begum Kulsoom, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in August last year, passed away in London on Sept 11.
PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb told Dawn earlier that Begum Kulsoom's funeral in Lahore would be held at Sharif Medical city, adjacent to the family's Jati Umra residence, on Friday at 5pm.
She will be laid to rest near the graves of her father-in-law Mian Sharif and brother-in-law Abbas Sharif at Jati Umra. Congregational prayers for Begum Kulsoom will be offered on Sunday between Asr and Maghreb, Aurangzeb said.
