Karachi (News desk): Today is the 5th death anniversary of Begum Kulsum Nawaz, the wife of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the third time Prime Minister of Pakistan.
She was born in Lahore in 1948 to a family with Kashmiri origin. She was the granddaughter of the legendary wrestler, The Great Gama, commonly known as Rustam-e-Hind.
She completed her undergraduate studies at Forman Christian College and earned her doctoral degree in Urdu literature from Punjab University.
Dr. Kulsum Nawaz married former Pakistan Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif in 1971. However, she maintained a low-profile life until 1999. She emerged as a prominent political figure after General Pervez Musharraf’s coup d’état, which led to the dismissal of the democratically elected government of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the arrest of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Dr. Kulsoom was also arrested by the Pakistan Army Corps of Military Police and relocated to her local residence. With top leadership of PML-N in jail, she assumed the role of president of the party in 1999.
In the year 2000, she was again arrested for leading a rally from Lahore to Peshawar, openly challenging the harsh suppression of her party under military rule. Through her efforts, she succeeded in bringing opposition parties under a single platform, earning her the title of the “Mother of Democracy”.
Kulsum Nawaz re-entered the politics after the disqualification of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the third time by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
She was elected as a Member of the National Assembly in a by-election against Pakistan Tehreek Insaf’s candidate Dr. Yasmin Rashid. However, her political role was hindered by her diagnosis of cancer and the subsequent treatment she underwent.
Following a battle between life and death, she passed away on September 11, 2018. She was laid to eternal rest beside her father-in-law, Mian Muhammad Sharif, in Jati Umra.
