Begum Shamim Akhtar's funeral prayer held in London

The funeral prayer of Begum Shamim Akhtar – the mother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother former chief minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif – was held at the Regent's Park mosque in London on Friday.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader, other family members and former finance minister Ishaq Dar were in attendance besides other colleagues. Keeping in view the coronavirus SOPs, only 30 people were allowed inside the mosque for the funeral prayer.

A little while before the funeral prayer, Maryam Nawaz – the PML-N's vice-president and daughter of Nawaz Sharif – tweeted a picture of her father standing beside his mother's body. "A son who deserves his mother's prayers, surrendering his mother to his Allah," she wrote in the tweet.

Begum Shamim Akhtar's body is reportedly to be taken straight to the Heathrow airport after the funeral prayer from where it will be flown to Lahore.

In view of her funeral scheduled to be held in Lahore, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz were released from jail on parole for five days earlier in the day.

The funeral prayer will be offered at the Sharif Medical City tomorrow (Saturday).

PML-N Deputy Secretary-General Attaullah Tarar said Begum Shamim's body would reach Lahore on Saturday at around 6:45am via a British Airway flight.

The funeral prayers would be offered the same day at 2pm.

Begum Shamim had passed away in London on November 22.

She had left for London in February despite being unwell to be with Sharif, who is there for medical treatment since late last year.

According to PML-N leaders, Begum Shamim was almost 94 years old and seriously ill for the past several months but she wanted to be in London for the former premier’s cardiac intervention.