Nawaz to not participate in electoral campaign due to wife's health

LONDON: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif remarked on Sunday that he won't be able to participate in the electoral campaign for the upcoming general election due to the health of his wife Kulsoom Nawaz, Geo News reported.

While speaking to media in London, he shared that his wife is suffering from an infection, adding that she also has fever due to the infection.

"Kulsoom Nawaz is my wife. I have certain responsibilities towards her.”

When asked about the Daily Mail report titled “Penthouse pirates: How the mega-rich former prime minister of Pakistan and his sons have ploughed millions into London's swankiest addresses to amass a vast property empire,” Nawaz slammed as nothing but ‘propaganda’.

“Those who engage in propaganda would continue to do so,” he added. 

The Daily Mail report refers to the Avenfield properties — on which one of the references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the Sharif family is based.

The report stated: "The family has made huge profits from other sites which have not figured in court – such as the swankiest address of all, at One Hyde Park Place, which Nawaz Sharif’s son Hassan sold for £43 million. Untangling the web of the Sharifs’ British real estate portfolio is not easy. The properties are registered via a bewildering network of companies, trusts and bank accounts."

It also shared details of Sharif family properties in London. 

'Will return after Kulsoom's health improves'

On Saturday, Nawaz Sharif said that he would return to Pakistan after improvement in the condition of his wife Kulsoom Nawaz, who has been under treatment in London for past few months.

Speaking to newsmen outside the Harley Street Clinic, the former premier said that his wife was struggling for her life.

"Can I think of going back to Pakistan under such circumstances when Kulsoom is on ventilator? Do you think I should return to Pakistan leaving behind my wife in such a condition?" he asked reporters.

"[We] will decide about going back to Pakistan once Kulsoom's health improves in next few days."

Begum Kulsoom was admitted to hospital in London in August last year after doctors discovered she was suffering from throat cancer. She has been undergoing treatment since.

On June 14, Begum Kulsoom was shifted to the hospital's ICU after she suffered a cardiac arrest and has been on life support since.

Nawaz and his daughter, Maryam, reached London the same day to tend to Begum Kulsoom.