01 November 2004	Monday	17 Ramazan 1425

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KARACHI, Oct 31: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Sindh, has announced three-day mourning for Mian Mohammad Sharif during which Quran khwani would be held at all provincial and district offices of the party.

Additional Secretary General of the party Khwaja Tariq Nazeer, while announcing the programme, said that Mian Sharif's body was expected to arrive Karachi from Jeddah in the PIA flight, PK-732, on early Monday morning. The body would then be taken to Lahore in another PIA flight, PK-302, he added.

The funeral prayers would be offered in the compound of the Jamia Masjid Hazrat Data Ganj Bukhsh and burial would take place at Jati Umra Farm, Raiwind.

Meanwhile, leaders of various political parties have criticized the government's reported decision not to allow former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif and other family members to attend the funeral of Mian Sharif.

Yusuf Masti Khan, Secretary General of the National Workers Party, referring to the government's message conveyed to the Sharif family through Pakistan's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, described the decision as an act of tyranny and cruelty.

He advised the military rulers to refrain from taking any step which could tarnish the image of the country, as well as its armed forces, in the world community.

A former mayor of Karachi, MNA Abdul Sattar Afghani of the MMA, termed the government's attitude contrary to Islamic teachings and ethics. He said that no religion or law prohibited children and close relatives to attend funeral of their beloved.

Jamia Ulema-i-Pakistan (F) leader Qari Mohammad Osman said that the government should have first taken into account the implications of such a decision. He appealed to Gen Musharraf to reconsider the decision and allow the Sharif family to attend Mian Sharif's funeral.