As husband Nawaz Sharif heads home, ailing wife Kulsoom comes out of month-long coma

LONDON: As Pakistan's graft accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam left for Pakistan to face arrest following their conviction in a corruption case, his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz came out of a month-long coma.

According to leading Pakistani media reports, Kulsoom Nawaz opened her eyes after a month-long coma at London's Harley Street Clinic where she is undergoing treatment.

The news was also confirmed by Kulsoom's son, Hussain Nawaz.

Making an emotional appeal to supporters, Hussain requested people to pray for his ailing mother in their prayers.

"She (Kulsoom) has opened her eyes after exactly one month. I don't have anything else to share. Her sedatives were being reduced. My only request is, please remember her in your prayers," he told media here.

Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam, who are convicted in Avenfield Reference case, have reached the Abu Dhabi airport from where they will proceed to Pakistan.

All arrangements have been made to arrest the three-time former prime minister of Pakistan and his daughter by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team.

The father-daughter duo, who was in London to meet Nawaz's ailing wife, left for Pakistan late on Thursday.

According to sources, the NAB team will board the plane with the permission of authorities and will take Nawaz and Maryam under their custody.

A 16-member team of NAB, including two women officers, has been formed under the headship of Director Amjad Ali Aulakh to arrest them.

NAB sources in Islamabad said that both the convicted would be kept at Adiala Jail for a day before being transferred to the notorious Attock Fort Prison.

Furthermore, the flights that were to arrive at Islamabad airport this morning have been diverted to Lahore airport.

On July 6, Nawaz was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, and a fine of eight million pounds was slapped on him in the Avenfield Reference case.

The case pertains to the purchase of Avenfield Apartments through offshore companies, the beneficial owner of which was Maryam.

Maryam was sentenced to seven years of jail and fined two million pounds by the NAB Court.

Earlier in April, Pakistan's Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz from contesting elections for the rest of his life because of his corruption cases as revealed in the Panama Papers.

Sharif had stepped down as prime minister in July after the apex court's ruling. 

(With ANI inputs)