ISLAMABAD / LAHORE, Oct 30: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Saturday said that the government had not received any word from any individual or the Saudi government regarding the burial plan for Mian Mohammad Sharif.
Talking to Dawn, the minister said the Pakistani embassy in Saudi Arabia had informed the government that a person, Mehfooz, would accompany the body of Mian Sharif to Pakistan.
A spokesman for the Sharifs, Siddiqul Farooque, however, said the family had approached the Saudi authorities asking them to use their influence with the Pakistani rulers to let the family attend the last rites.
The minister said that Pakistani Ambassador in Riyadh, Abdul Aziz Mirza, who had met the Sharifs in Jeddah on Saturday, had not gone to the Sharif brothers to hold any negotiations. Rather, he added, the ambassador was asked to express condolences to the family on behalf of the government of Pakistan.
When asked why the government was not allowing the Sharif brothers to return on humanitarian grounds without a formal request from the Sharifs, the minister said: "Ask this question to the relevant authorities. I can only tell you what I have been allowed to."
Mr Farooque said the namaz-i-janaza would be offered at the Jamaia Mosque at Data Darbar after Zohr prayers and the burial would take place in the graveyard of Sharif Medical City at Raiwind in the afternoon.
However, sources said the government was unlikely to allow funeral prayers on the premises of Data Sahib's shrine.
Sources said a helipad had been made close to the proposed site for the grave of Mian Sharif at Jati Umra, Raiwind, for transporting the body direct from the Lahore airport to there.
Official sources said the step was being taken for 'security reasons'.
Mian Sharif's body will reach at the Lahore airport through flight PK-732 via Karachi at 9:30am on Monday, sources said.
Meanwhile, a late-night contact in Jeddah revealed that the Sharifs were considering that except for the widow of Mian Sharif, no other member of the family should go to Pakistan to attend the last rites if the government did not allow Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Kulsoom Nawaz to travel to Pakistan.
