Layyah helicopter crash: DG Punjab Rangers laid to rest

Funeral prayers of DG Rangers who was killed in a helicopter crash were offered at the DG Rangers headquarter.

LAHORE:

Director-General Rangers, Punjab, Major-General Muhammad Nawaz and his son Captain Asif Nawaz who died in a helicopter crash in Layyah last week were laid to rest at their native village here on Sunday. They were buried with full military honours and the funeral prayers were attended by a large number of people. A guard of honour was also presented on the occassion while floral wreaths were laid on their graves on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, COAS General Pervez Kiani, chiefs of navy and air force and Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

Earlier, funeral prayers for all the deceased in the helicopter crash, including the pilot Lieutenant-Colonel Amir Abbas and technician Subedar Ibadullah were offered at the Punjab Rangers Headquarters in Lahore.

The funeral prayers were attended by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Governor Punjab Sardar Latif Khosa, Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Corps Commanders Lahore and Gujranwala and high-ranking military and Rangers’ officers.

Pilot Abbas was also laid to rest on Sunday in his ancestral graveyard in Rahimpur village near Sialkot, with full military protocol and honours.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2011.