Blast victims laid to rest

Religious leaders blame govt for not being aware of security threat, failing to foil it

PESHAWAR/SWAT/ PARACHINAR:

The funeral prayers of 12 victims of Kocha Risaldar suicide blast were offered collectively amid tight security arrangements in the Kohati area of the old walled city.

The entire locality had been surrounded by the police personnel and the main market closed for all types of vehicular traffic.

At least 57 people were killed and nearly 200 others injured in a suicide attack at an imambargah in Peshawar's Kocha Risaldar area during Friday prayers.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari had deployed snipers on rooftops in order to neutralise any threat from a distance.

Nearly every household inside the walled city lost a family member in the deadly attack.

Later, the bodies were laid to rest in separate graveyards of the city.

“Last night (Friday), 12 victims were laid to rest and on Saturday the last rites of seven people were offered and then namaz-e-janaza of seven others was offered,” a local resident said, adding that the burials were taking place for the last two days in the city.

Around 14 victims of the mosque bombing hailed from Parachinar, Kurram tribal district.

“When the dead bodies reached Parachinar on Friday, the family members staged a protest demonstration along with the bodies, demanding action against the perpetrators of the attack and then the burial started which continued on Saturday too,” a tribal elder said while talking to The Express Tribune.

One-day mourning has been announced across Kurram tribal district, he said.

Addressing the protest in Parachinar, religious leaders blamed the government for not being aware of the security threat and failing to foil it.

They demanded crackdown against the terrorists under the National Action Plan (NAP), adding skyrocketing inflation had already made their lives miserable.

They demanded Rs5 million compensation for each victim of the blast and free treatment for those who were injured in the attack.

“Every family should be paid a compensation package of Rs5 million for the death of a member and the injured should be paid Rs2 million along with free treatment,” they demanded.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2022.