Funeral: PPP Russia president laid to rest

NIZAMPUR: Hidayatullah Khattak, an honorary member of the Russian parliament Duma, who was killed in Moscow on Saturday, was laid to rest here on Thursday. His funeral prayers were held at his ancestral village Gajukhel village in Nizampur area of Nowshera district. Khattak was killed by unknown assailants in Moscow on Saturday, his family said. Khattak, 42, was also the president of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Russia chapter. His brother Ayub Khattak told The Express Tribune that Hidayat was killed while on his way to attend a conference on terrorism. Ayub further said that either organised gangs or Chechen militants could be behind his brother’s murder. Khattak settled in Russia in 1985 after he went there for his studies, following his intermediate. He later married a Russian woman whose brother was an aide to Russia President Vladimir Putin.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2011.