As 2 men buried, over 40 funerals line up
KARACHI:
Thousands of charged mourners attended the funeral prayers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Syed Raza Haider and his police escort on Tuesday despite interior minister Rehman Malik’s warning that a suicide bomber could attack the gathering.
Security was air tight around MQM headquarters at Nine Zero in Azizabad. A heavy contingent of police backed by Rangers mobile units were in place on all roads leading to Jinnah ground where the funeral was held. Barricades blocked the roads and no private cars were allowed through. Snipers were positioned on roof tops on surrounding buildings.
The inner cordon was manned by MQM activists themselves, who frisked each attendee on his way to the memorial service. The activists were also positioned in private cars, four men in each vehicle, 20 paces apart, on one side of the road. However, none of them displayed their arms openly.
Mustafa Kamal, the former city nazim, was the first high profile MQM leader to arrive at the ground and he was seen giving directions to his cadres as early as 11 am. Every participant was given a black ribbon, with directions to wear it till the end of the mourning period that will last three days.
However, even as arrangements were being made on the grounds that house the recently inaugurated Martyrs Memory monument, the death toll in the city in the aftermath of Haider’s assassination continued to rise. As Muhammad Khalid Khan, the MPA’s bodyguard, arrived in an ambulance by 12:30 pm, the figure of people who lost their lives within the last 24 hours had already crossed 40.
Khan’s septuagenarian father was crying inconsolably while seated on a stool in the front row. “I too have died today along with my son,” he said. Khan was one of the six reported police escorts provided to Haider by the government. He was among the two guards who went along with the MPA to the mosque in Nazimabad, while the rest were posted at his residence at the time of the attack on Monday evening.
Senior MQM member Nasreen Jalil led the women’s activists of the party on the ground, which also included Haider’s shell-shocked wife and daughter. The women did not take part in the prayers.
Shoaib Bukhari, Babar Ghauri, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Faisal Sabzwari and Raza Haroon were some of the other high-profile MQM members who attended the funeral. No member of any other party attended the proceedings. However, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Waqar Mehdi, who is the special secretary to the chief minister Sindh, was present.
When Haider’s body arrived wrapped in an MQM flag that had the words “Jiye Altaf Hussain” inscribed on it, it was clear that the enraged crowd had made up its mind about who was behind the killing. Thousands erupted with chants of “Murdabad Murdabad, ANP, Murdabad” and “Qatil hay, Qatil hay, Shahi Syed, Qatil hay”. Others included “Taliban Murdabad”, “Labaik Ya Hussain” and “Ayega, Ayega, Inqilaab Ayega”.
Two clerics, one Shia and the other Sunni, led the funerals separately. Allama Aun Naqvi of the Bootraab Imambargah led the prayers for Raza Haider, while Khan’s was led by Maulana Ferozziddin Rehmani.
Several hundred more people joined the funeral procession which passed through Muqqa chowk enroute to the graveyard in Yaseenabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2010.
Thousands of charged mourners attended the funeral prayers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Syed Raza Haider and his police escort on Tuesday despite interior minister Rehman Malik’s warning that a suicide bomber could attack the gathering.
Security was air tight around MQM headquarters at Nine Zero in Azizabad. A heavy contingent of police backed by Rangers mobile units were in place on all roads leading to Jinnah ground where the funeral was held. Barricades blocked the roads and no private cars were allowed through. Snipers were positioned on roof tops on surrounding buildings.
The inner cordon was manned by MQM activists themselves, who frisked each attendee on his way to the memorial service. The activists were also positioned in private cars, four men in each vehicle, 20 paces apart, on one side of the road. However, none of them displayed their arms openly.
Mustafa Kamal, the former city nazim, was the first high profile MQM leader to arrive at the ground and he was seen giving directions to his cadres as early as 11 am. Every participant was given a black ribbon, with directions to wear it till the end of the mourning period that will last three days.
However, even as arrangements were being made on the grounds that house the recently inaugurated Martyrs Memory monument, the death toll in the city in the aftermath of Haider’s assassination continued to rise. As Muhammad Khalid Khan, the MPA’s bodyguard, arrived in an ambulance by 12:30 pm, the figure of people who lost their lives within the last 24 hours had already crossed 40.
Khan’s septuagenarian father was crying inconsolably while seated on a stool in the front row. “I too have died today along with my son,” he said. Khan was one of the six reported police escorts provided to Haider by the government. He was among the two guards who went along with the MPA to the mosque in Nazimabad, while the rest were posted at his residence at the time of the attack on Monday evening.
Senior MQM member Nasreen Jalil led the women’s activists of the party on the ground, which also included Haider’s shell-shocked wife and daughter. The women did not take part in the prayers.
Shoaib Bukhari, Babar Ghauri, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Faisal Sabzwari and Raza Haroon were some of the other high-profile MQM members who attended the funeral. No member of any other party attended the proceedings. However, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Waqar Mehdi, who is the special secretary to the chief minister Sindh, was present.
When Haider’s body arrived wrapped in an MQM flag that had the words “Jiye Altaf Hussain” inscribed on it, it was clear that the enraged crowd had made up its mind about who was behind the killing. Thousands erupted with chants of “Murdabad Murdabad, ANP, Murdabad” and “Qatil hay, Qatil hay, Shahi Syed, Qatil hay”. Others included “Taliban Murdabad”, “Labaik Ya Hussain” and “Ayega, Ayega, Inqilaab Ayega”.
Two clerics, one Shia and the other Sunni, led the funerals separately. Allama Aun Naqvi of the Bootraab Imambargah led the prayers for Raza Haider, while Khan’s was led by Maulana Ferozziddin Rehmani.
Several hundred more people joined the funeral procession which passed through Muqqa chowk enroute to the graveyard in Yaseenabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2010.