RIYADH, Oct 30: The body of Mian Mohammad Sharif, father of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, will be flown to Pakistan on Sunday evening following his namaz-i-janaza to be offered in Masjidul Haram after Fajr prayers.
The entire Sharif family was at his bedside when Mian Sharif died at the United Doctors Hospital in Jeddah, where he was scheduled to undergo heart surgery on Saturday, at around 8:30pm on Friday.
On Saturday, the Sharif family approached the Pakistani Consulate in Jeddah, seeking permission to take the body to Pakistan. According to Saudi rules, the concerned embassy or the consulate of the deceased is required to issue permission for the body to be taken out of the Kingdom.
It appears that while Mian Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and other family members were keen to go to Pakistan to attend the last rites, the request submitted before the consulate for accompanying the body was only for one person, Mr Mahfooz, a personal assistant to the family.
The Pakistani ambassador in Riyadh, Abdul Aziz Mirza, travelled to Jeddah on Saturday and condoled with the Sharif brothers.
Talking to Dawn later, Mr Mirza said he had told the Sharifs to submit a request to the consulate for permission to go to Pakistan with the body. However, he said, they had not received any such request, adding that the only application received at the Jeddah consulate was for an attendant of the family.
Sources close to the Sharifs said the ambassador had asked the family to file a formal request with the Saudi government.
He told Mian Nawaz Sharif that the Pakistani government would consider their application once such a request was made to the Saudi government. According to the source, Mian Nawaz Sharif categorically told the ambassador that they would not file any request for the permission and it was for the government of Pakistan to take the initiative, if any, and talk to the Saudi leadership.
Brigadier Jawed Iqbal, the then military secretary to the former prime minister, told Dawn that Mian Nawaz Sharif had told the ambassador that they were not ready for any deal, negotiation or bargain on the issue. If they were to be allowed to accompany the body to Pakistan, it had to be without any conditions.
However, other sources close to the family appeared hopeful. "Even if Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif are refused permission, other members of the family would travel to Pakistan," the source said.
Earlier, when Pakistani Consul-General in Jeddah Masood Butt had tried to establish contact with the Sharif family to talk on the issue, he was told that they were taking rest. However, later in the day the contact was established.
