Four buried among wailing processions

Relatives and people from respective areas took part in funeral prayers for victims.

RAWALPINDI:

Four persons who lost their lives in the tragic plane crash a day before were buried in different areas of Rawalpindi on Saturday. Their funeral prayers were held in sombre processions held by the wailing families. 

The bodies of four persons, including a woman, were identified at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) through thumb impressions and other identifications given by their legal heirs.

Apart from the relatives, people from the respective areas also took part in the funeral prayers of the victims.

The victims buried on Saturday included Asif Aftab, a relative of senior journalist of Express Urdu, Saleh Mughal. Aftab was buried at Eidgah graveyard.

Asif had three children and lived in Karachi. He was coming to Rawalpindi to meet his parents to discuss the prospects of shifting his cosmetics business from Karachi.

Another deceased who was buried in Rawalpindi was the 22-year-old Haris Hassan. He was a businessman from the garrison city and his funeral was offered at Raja Bazaar.

The market remained closed in mourning for the young businessman, who was said to be a “well mannered and social man”.

A young religious scholar from Rawalpindi, Maulana Usman Rasheed, was also among those who had boarded the fateful Bhoja Air flight. Rasheed, a close relative of Maulana Abdul Majeed Hazarvi, was buried in a graveyard at Khayaban-e-Sir Syed. He was coming to Rawalpindi to spend his vacations.

In the fourth burial the funeral prayers of a woman were offered. Fehmida Zubair was buried in a local graveyard after her body was identified at PIMS.

Meanwhile, the bodies of Station Commander Hyderabad Brigadier Javaid Akhtar and his wife were identified by their relatives and moved to their native village Peepa, near Rawat, where their funeral will be conducted at 1:30pm on Sunday.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2012.