Peshawar bus blast: Victims of Friday’s bombing laid to rest

MPAs, senior officials attend funeral prayers in Charsadda.

CHARSADDA:

Funeral prayers for victims of Friday’s bus blast were offered in various parts of Charsadda on Saturday as 20 bodies were laid to rest.

The explosion on Friday ripped through a passenger coach carrying government employees on Charsadda Road, Peshawar. The attack left 20 people dead while nearly 40 were injured.

A collective funeral prayer for Ali Khan, Mehrab Gul and Haroon Rasheed, a school teacher, was offered at their ancestral graveyard in Akhun Dheri village. Hundreds of mourners, including senior officials and MPAs were present.

Other victims were buried in their respective local graveyards. Strict security measures were in place around the burial grounds during the funeral proceedings.

After the funeral, MNA and Jamaat-e-Islami District Amir Maulana Syed Gohar Shah and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl MPA Shakoor Khan condemned the incident and demanded a judicial inquiry.

Gohar Shah maintained policies adopted by governments in the past had resulted in such attacks becoming the norm.

“Foreign policies need to be revised after consulting all political parties and a positive solution for militancy should be found,” said Gohar.

Meanwhile, in order to express solidarity with the families of the victims, lawyers of the district’s bar association boycotted court proceedings on Saturday.

The lawyers offered prayers for the deceased and demanded the government take action against militants who carry out such brutal attacks in the country, slaughtering scores of innocent people.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2013.