Death of Jamil Fakhri’s son confirmed

The son of renowned Pakistani actor Jamil Fakhri had gone missing 22 months ago.

The Pakistani embassy in the US on Tuesday confirmed the death of the son of renowned actor Jamil Fakhri.

Ali Ayaz Fakhri had gone missing in the US some 22 months ago. Jamil Fakhri had made repeated efforts to move the ministry of overseas Pakistanis and the foreign ministry but to no avail.

“The Pakistani embassy in the US got involved in the case five days ago when the media ran the news about my son,” a visibly shattered Jamil Fakhri complained while talking to the media at his residence in Lahore on Tuesday. “My son had no personal enmity with anyone. The embassy has yet to give me any information about the body,” he said.

Fakhri said the New York police have confirmed that his son Ali Ayaz was murdered and that the investigations are under way. “They would give us investigation details in writing about the incident and the culprits (behind the murder),” he added.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani informed Jamil Fakhri about the death of his son over telephone after receiving his DNA report. Haqqani, however, did not confirm whether Ali Ayaz was murdered or he had died as a result of an accident.

Earlier on Saturday, Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit had said that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had taken notice of Fakhri’s missing son. Ali Ayaz Fakhri, 32, was living in America for the last 10 years. He had a masters in business education and was working as a taxi driver. Ali, who was divorced, was the eldest among Fakhri’s four sons. Another son of the actor is settled in Canada while the other two live in Lahore.

Some four days ago when Jamil Fakhri was asked why he took so long to reveal the news of his son going missing in the US he had said, “I was checking through my personal sources whether he was involved in any illegal activity.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2010.