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ISLAMABAD – The wife of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif died Tuesday in a London hospital after months in critical condition, a spokeswoman said. She was 68 years old.
Maryam Aurangzeb, spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League party, told The Associated Press that Kulsoom Nawaz had passed before dawn.
"We are announcing with sorrow, sorrow and sorrow that Kulsoom Nawaz is no longer among us," she said.
She said arrangements were underway to bring Nawaz's body to Pakistan for burial.
Shortly after the announcement of his death, Pakistani TV channels showed Sharif's two sons and other family members and sympathizers in front of the London hospital and receiving condolences.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Arif Alvi, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of the Army, and political leaders, including former political president Asif Zardari, have expressed sorrow over the Nawaz's death.
Nawaz was suffering from throat cancer and was operated on at the hospital last year. His condition deteriorated several months ago.
Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were not present in London at the time of his death because the two men have been imprisoned in Pakistan since July as they returned home to serve their sentences in corruption cases.
Sharif appeared in Islamabad court on Tuesday. He has applied for bail, but the court has yet to rule on his request. The government is likely to release Sharif and her daughter on parole to attend Nawaz's funeral, which has not yet been planned.
Mourners began to gather in front of Sharif's residence in the eastern city of Lahore.
Sharif resigned after the Supreme Court excluded him from his post last year for concealing his property abroad. Later, he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the family's purchase of luxury apartments in London.
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Associated Press reporter Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
