Nawaz Sharif, daughter given parole; Kulsoom's burial on Friday
Islamabad, Sep 12 : Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar have been released from prison on a three-day parole to attend the funeral of Kulsoom Nawaz, who passed away in London after months of battle with cancer.
The three, now serving prison sentences in Rawalpindi on corruption charges, were released hours after Sharif's wife died in a London hospital on Tuesday.
The funeral prayers of the former Premier's wife will held at London's Regent Park mosque on Thursday and her body will then be flown to Lahore, Geo News reported.
The Sharif family said that Kulsoom Nawaz will be laid to rest on Friday at their residence in Lahore.
Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and her husband were escorted by the police from the jail to the Nur Khan Airbase from where they flew to Lahore on Wednesday.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif accompanied the three on the flight. Later, he departed for London to bring Kulsoom Nawaz's body home.
According to the Punjab Home Department spokesperson, it was decided that Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Safdar's parole be extended by three days. "In case of a delay in Begum Kulsoom's funeral, the parole will be further extended," the spokesperson said.
According to Dawn daily, Kulsoom Nawaz's sons in London would not accompany her body to Lahore though her daughter Asma and grandson Zikriya Sharif would go with the casket to Pakistan.
A large number of relatives, party leaders, workers, politicians and well-wishers visited the Sharif residence to condole the death.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
