Efforts on to get Sharifs’ parole extended: Report

Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party is making efforts to extend his parole, which will end on Monday, to allow him to mourn the death of his wife Begum Kulsoom till a ceremony that is held on the 40th day after the demise, according to a media report.

Kulsoom died last Tuesday in a London hospital after a year-long battle with throat cancer.

She was laid to rest on Friday at the Sharif family's Jati Umra residence here next to the graves of her father-in-law Mian Sharif and brother-in-law Abbas Sharif.

Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) M Safdar, currently serving jail terms in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi after being convicted by an accountability court in a corruption case in July, have been released on parole for three-days for Kulsoom's funeral.

The Punjab home department extended the parole for additional five days.

The Sharifs had been sent to the jail two months ago in the corruption case related to their purchase of properties in London.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shahbaz Sharif has been making efforts to get another extension in their parole till Begum Kulsoom’s chehlum (ceremony that is held on the 40th day after the demise), Dawn quoted sources as saying.

Asked about the party leadership's efforts to seek extension in the parole of the three, former speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq told media that the Sharif family could announce a decision on the matter.

"Earlier, Nawaz Sharif had not sought parole. I hope the government itself will extend their parole on humanitarian grounds," he added.