LAHORE: PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz will attend the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Multan rally on Nov 30.

“Nawaz Sharif has directed me to attend the meeting of the PDM,” Ms Nawaz told reporters at Jati Umra here on Thursday. She said Nawaz said she would have to forget her grief and attend the PDM rally. She will be attending the event two days after the burial of her grandmother, Begum Shamim Akhtar.

She said she had spoken to her grandmother a few days before her death in London. “When I spoke to her she thought I was still in jail,” she said.Maryam said when she was in jail she had thyroid issues and she was forced to have medicines infected with fungus.

The PTI, however, has chided Maryam for her decision to attend the PDM rally during the mourning period.

“The body of the grandmother of Maryam is kept in a cargo plane and Nawaz Sharif is issuing political directions to his daughter. Let her be buried first,” special assistant to the premier Shahbaz Gill said in a tweet.

He said: “They are strange people. Earlier, Maryam said no government person informed her about the death of her grandmother. Now she is saying that she was given rats’ leftover food in jail.”

Maryam was also criticized for refusing to meet Jamaat-i-Islami leader Dr Samia Raheel Qazi who came to Jati Umra to condole with her the death of her grandmother. On Twitter Ms Qazi addressed Maryam saying: “I had come here (Jati Umra) to condole the death of your grandmother but I was not allowed to see you. You may receive my condolence here.”

Funeral prayers of Begum Shamim Akhtar will be offered on Saturday at Sharif Medical City.

The Punjab government has approved the release of Shebaz Sharif and his son Hamza on a five-day parole to participate in the last rites of his (Shehbaz) mother. Both leaders will be released upon arrival of the body of Begum Akhtar.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2020