JEDDAH, 1 November 2004 — The body of Mian Mohammad Sharif, father of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was flown to Karachi on a Pakistan International Airlines flight last night. From Karachi, the body will be taken to Lahore this morning and then to Raiwind for burial.
Mohammad Sharif died here on Friday. According to Muhammad Ishaq Dar, a former Pakistani finance minister and close relative of Nawaz, no member of the Sharif family accompanied the body. “Only three close associates — M.A.H Mahfooz Ahmad, an old-time employee of the deceased, Dr. Adnan, a family physician, and Brig. Jawed Iqbal — accompanied the body. Nawaz’s mother, Shamim Kausar Sharif, and her maid Allah Rakhi were also expected to travel with the body, but they did not,” Dar told Arab News.
He said if the government did not permit funeral prayers at the courtyard of Sheikh Ali Hajveri’s Mosque, commonly known as Data Darbar, in Lahore, and the body is flown directly from Lahore airport to Raiwind, funeral prayers will be held in absentia at Data Darbar.
Asked why Nawaz and Shahbaz did not accompany the body, Dar said the Pakistani government had put conditions on their travel and wanted “to bargain over their visit”. He said “the Sharifs are citizens of Pakistan and they will never accept any conditions for returning home.”
Pakistan’s ambassador, Abdul Aziz Mirza, traveled to Jeddah from Riyadh on Saturday and conveyed his condolences to the family.
In a statement, Mirza said he had told the Sharifs to submit a request for permission to go to Pakistan with the body. However, he said, the embassy did not receive any such request. The only application received at the Jeddah consulate was for an attendant of the family to accompany the body.
According to Dar, the Sharifs said the ambassador had asked the family to file a formal request. “But the family refused to file such a request... they don’t need any permission to travel to their own country,” he said.
