Karachi airport attack: Fallen fighters laid to rest

Total of 19 soldiers died in attack at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport.

KARACHI:

The funeral of the 11 officials of the Airport Security Force (ASF) and one Rangers official was held at the Airport grounds and the Rangers Headquarters in Bhittaiabad, respectively, on Monday.

A total of 19 soldiers died in the attack at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on Sunday night. They were identified as sub-inspectors Tariq Mehmood, Muhammad Sarwar and Muhammad Hafeezur Rehman, assistant sub-inspectors Islamuddin and Muhammad Iqbal, hawaldars Muhammad Hayat, Muhammad Azam Khan and Ghulam Murtaza, and sepoys Muntazir Shah, Abdul Malik and Muhammad Irfan.

The authorities said that the ASF officials hailed from different areas, including Azad Kashmir, Banu, Swat and Balochistan. The bodies have been sent to their native towns after the funeral prayers were offered on Monday.

The funeral of the Rangers official, who was identified as Dilmurad, was held at the Rangers Headquarters in Bhittaiabad, after which his body was sent to his native town in Khairpur.

The coffins were wrapped in the national flag and were transported from the ASF camp, located behind the airport. ASF director-general Azam Tiwana, Rangers director-general Major General Rizwan Akhtar, special assistant to the prime minister on aviation Shujaat Azeem, Civil Aviation Authority director-general Air Marshal (retd) Muhammad Yousaf, and several political leaders attended the funeral. The authorities paid tribute to the officials who laid down their lives in order to foil the nefarious designs of the terrorists. While praising the efforts of the ASF personnel, Tiwana said that the terrorists were foreign nationals and had come fully prepared but the ASF officials showed bravery and foiled the attack. Five Pakistan International Airlines officials - Fakhrul Hasan, Muzaffarul Hasan, Tanveer Anwar Khan, Fazal Muhammad Zubairi, Syed Muhammad Illyas - and a Shaheen Airline official, Abdul Khaliq, were among other victims who lost their lives. The authorities have yet to identify one person. The legal heirs received the bodies from Jinnah hospital while the unidentified body was moved to Edhi morgue.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2014.