Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed his deep emotions on Saturday, sharing his profound sense of loss and grief. Speaking at an immense gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan upon his return to Pakistan, ending four years of self-imposed exile in the UK, Sharif revealed that he had "lost my mother and wife to politics." His voice was nearly choked with emotion as he described the moment he received the news of their deaths while he was in prison.
Nawaz Sharif, the 73-year-old leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), found solace in the overwhelming support of the party's followers at the rally. He confessed that despite the intense grief and pain he had endured, the love and support of his followers were powerful enough to provide a sense of healing. He acknowledged the indelible wounds that politics had inflicted upon his personal life and family.
In an emotional and poignant moment, Sharif recounted his personal losses, emphasizing that politics had taken his mother, father, and wife away from him. He described the heartbreaking situation when he was unable to pay his final respects to his mother, father, or wife.
Recalling the distressing moments during his imprisonment, Sharif revealed the ordeal of his wife, Kulsoom, who was counting her last moments. He had pleaded with the jail authorities to allow him to make a call and speak with her. However, he disclosed that despite his two-and-a-half-hour-long requests, the authorities did not grant his request. Ultimately, they broke the devastating news of her death to him. Sharif's daughter, Maryam, who was sharing the stage with him alongside her uncle Shehbaz and other party leaders, listened to her father's heart-wrenching account.
Sharif went on to explain that he had insisted on not allowing the authorities to break the news of Kulsoom's death to Maryam. He expressed the difficulty of imagining how she and others could bear such a heavy burden when they were all alone. In 2018, Kulsoom passed away in London at the age of 70, while both Nawaz Sharif and Maryam were serving prison sentences in Pakistan on corruption charges.
Earlier on the same day, Sharif, who had spent the last four years in London, arrived in Islamabad from Dubai. After completing the necessary legal formalities related to his bail, he headed to Lahore, which is PML-N's stronghold in Punjab province.
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