Mian Sharif, the father of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, was buried at Raiwind yesterday, at a funeral attended by thousands.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, led by his son, however continued through the day to claim the government had rounded up dozens of activists and harassed leaders, in an attempt to thwart funeral plans.

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi, addressing an urgently called press conference in the city denied this, and said there was a "need to stop the untrue rumours doing the rounds".

He also dismissed reports that the government had denied Mian Nawaz and Mian Shahbaz Sharif permission to attend the funeral, stating "All they had to do was to apply to come, and they would have been allowed in."

He pointed out their mother had, in the past, been permitted quietly into the country after making such an application.

The body of Mian Sharif was flown into Lahore from Karachi yesterday morning. It had been brought from Jeddah to Karachi the previous night. However, as per a plan that had clearly been worked out in advance, the authorities declined to hand the body over to those who had come to receive it.

They included Salman Shahbaz, the younger son of Shahbaz Sharif, and PML-N leaders Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Raja Zafarul Haq and Zulfikar Khosa, among others.

Instead, the body was almost immediately loaded into a military helicopter and flown to the helipad at the Sharif family's Raiwind Estate, where Hamza Shahbaz, the elder son of Shahbaz Sharif, received it.

The PML-N had planned to first take the body to the Data Darbar shrine, to offer funeral prayers. With the body taken directly to Raiwind, these plans were defeated.

However, the Punjab government stated it had not barred the offering of funeral prayers at Data Darbar, and PML-N leaders could go ahead and arrange these. However, only a small number of workers was present in the Data Darbar area, with most heading for Raiwind.

The funeral at Raiwind was attended by PML-N and Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) leaders, as well as family members and a large number of activists. Leaders of some religious parties were also present.

A huge security net had been spread across the city for the funeral, with the Punjab chief minister stating "this is simply a precaution to avert any act of terrorism or violence that could disrupt the funeral".

PML-N leaders, including Raja Zafar ul Haq, meanwhile held the government had "taken steps to prevent workers reaching the funeral". He, and Punjab PML-N president Zulfikar Khosa also said that "dozens of party workers had been arrested" on Sunday and yesterday.

The Punjab government countered this as "mere propaganda". Pervaiz Ellahi maintained the government had worked in close coordination with Hamza Shahbaz, and done "all we could" to facilitate arrangements for the burial.

The government, at both the centre and the Punjab, also seemed anxious to control damage done by the assertions of Nawaz and Shahbaz that they had been denied permission to attend the funeral, or that conditions had been placed on them.

In various press reports, government ministers and spokesmen maintained the Sharifs had simply not applied for permission to visit the country. They held that seeking such permission, and then leaving, would in fact prove the Sharifs had gone into exile under a "deal".

However, accusations of a lack of humane behaviour, and harassment of the party as it tried to arrange the funeral, continued to come in from PML-N leaders, even after the funeral, with charges that workers in other towns were prevented from reaching Lahore.

The episode has done nothing to improve the strained ties between the ruling party and the PML-N, and in fact seems to have aggravated existing tensions.