Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz passes away in London

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz passed away Tuesday in London, Pakistan media reported. Sharif and his daughter Maryam Sharif are at present imprisoned in Rawalpindi jail. According to Pakistan media Geo TV, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif and her son, Hussain Nawaz, confirmed that the former first lady breathed her last at a clinic in London. Earlier in the day, Begum Kulsoom was placed on life support as her health began to deteriorate after developing a lung problem, reported Dawn, quoting Geo TV. The 68-year-old had been diagnosed with early-stage lymphoma in August last year and had been London since, the Dawn reported. She further underwent multiple surgeries and around five chemotherapy sessions. The former first lady of Pakistan had suffered a cardiac arrest and placed on a ventilator in June this year. A slight improvement in her condition was reported by her family members in June, a day before her husband and daughter were sent to prison reported Dawn. Having served as a first lady of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, 1990-1993, 1997-1999 and 2013-2017, Kulsoom was elected to Lahore’s NA-120 constituency in a by-poll post-Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification from elections last year. However, she left for the United Kingdom shortly before the election campaign could begin. Due to her illness, Kulsoom could not return to Pakistan and formally take an oath for the seat. Instead, her daughter Maryam Nawaz took her place and ran the campaign in her mother’s absence. Born in 1950, in Lahore to a Kashmiri family, Kulsoom was married to the former prime minister in 1971. Kulsoom served as the president of the PML-N from 1999 to 2002 after Nawaz Sharif’s government was dismissed by former president Pervez Musharraf. Kulsoom along with her daughter was placed under house arrest after Nawaz’s dismissal. The former first lady of Pakistan is survived by her husband Nawaz Sharif and four children, Hassan, Hussain, Maryam and Asma. Source: The Indian Express