Burial trouble:‘Terrorist’s body’ returns to Lahore
The body of a terrorism suspect killed in an operation by with security forces in Raiwind on July 17 was taken to Lahore General Hospital on Sunday after residents of two villages refused to allow burial at their graveyards.
Iftikhar Nazir, brother of deceased Zulfiqar Nazir, said he was given custody of the body. He said he and his brother-in-law Muhammad Tariq were also detained for questioning but were later released.
Nazir, a resident of Malka Haans, said when he took the body to his ancestral graveyard in Phooranwala village in Okara, residents of the area gathered around them and asked him to take the body away.
“They told us they did not want a terrorist buried in the graveyard,” he said. “The grave had been dug but we had to take the body away because they [residents] were adamant.”
He said the villagers told them that the man had brought shame to the village and had joined a war against his own people.
He said the villagers also attacked them with sticks and told them to go away.
Nazir said he then took the body to Pakpattan and decided to bury the body in the suburbs.
“Here, too, we were told to go away by the residents of the area,” he said.
Nazir said his family had then brought the body to Lahore and handed it over to the police who took it Lahore General Hospital, where his post mortem examination had been conducted.
Nazir’s mother appealed to the chief minster to allow her son’s burial at their home town.
Malka Haans Station House Officer Nausher Kathia told The Express Tribune that the police accompanied the family at both burial sites but did not intervene between locals and the family.
He said the family did not seek help from the police in and officials escorting them were also unwilling to start trouble in the village.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2014.
COMMENTS (2)
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While I do feel sorry for the mother. But I'll have to agree with the villagers on this one.
If they had let the guy be buried, that would have fixed nothing. Too many people have joined terrorists for the money their families would get in return. By denying his burial in that graveyard the villagers made it a point that they won't accept terrorists as one of their own. Thus giving an incentive to others not to make the same mistake and ruin their lives by joining terrorists. It may be cruel but also necessary move if we are to curb terrorist numbers.
The mother should give it up and have the terrorist suspect buried elsewhere. Donating the body to a medical college for science would be a good option too, as Mr Kulwant Singh suggested. Such a donation would save lives and thus maybe become his redemption, if he was indeed a terrorist. If not then he would be gaining a reward anyways. Plus I'm sure medical hospitals would take good care of the body, ie: properly burying it after it's use has ended.
They should donate the body to some Medical College so that the budding doctors can be benefited in their studies and serve the mankind.