The Shia community of Rawalpindi offered funeral prayers on Wednesday for 12 persons killed in the Mastung terrorist attack after their identities were determined through DNA testing a day earlier.
Before handing over the 12 bodies, which included two women, the Shia community offered their funeral prayers at IJ Principal Road near Muhammadi Imam Bargha in New Katarian.
The bodies of three victims hailing from Rawalpindi were earlier handed over to their relatives for burial, while the other 12 were given to their relatives after the collective funeral. Five of the dead bodies would be taken to Sindh, and rest to different areas of Punjab for burial.
Four other dead bodies remain at Holy Family Hospital.
Speaking after the funerals, Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) Pakistan Secretary General Allama Nasir Abbas Jafri criticised the government for their failure to curb terrorism and especially the targeted killings of Shias in Balochistan.
He said if governor rule was rescinded as demanded by the Balochistan Assembly, they would start protesting against the federal government as the elected government of Balochistan’s only achievement was five years of failure to protect the common man.
All politicians are gathered in Lahore to safeguard their interests but they had never sit together to bring out a collective policy against the terrorism in the country.
DNA verification
On Tuesday, the district administration of Rawalpindi received identity confirmation of 18 out of 19 bodies from the Mastung attack and had initiated the process of handing them over to their heirs.
In response to a request from the medical superintendent of Holy Family Hospital (HFH), where 16 dead bodies were kept after being brought from Quetta two weeks ago, the Institute of Biomedical and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) Islamabad on Tuesday sent the reports for samples from 18 victims.
The Rawalpindi district administration took samples from the bodies and blood samples from relatives of the unidentified and sent them to IBGE for DNA profiling.
The bodies, which could not be visually identified due to the circumstances of their deaths, were flown in to Rawalpindi from Quetta on a C-130 on January 1 after the December 31, 2012 bombing of a bus carrying Shia pilgrims near Mastung.
Apart from the 16 bodies at HFH, three were kept at District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) and the administration waited for the arrival of samples of the bodies taken at Quetta to match them with samples from claimants.
After a wait of 10 days, the Rawalpindi administration was informed that the samples taken at Quetta had been lost and new samples should be taken for further identification of the bodies.
A senior doctor at HFH said they had to pay Rs10,000 per sample to the IBGE and the bodies were to be transported to their native areas in Punjab and Sindh.
Rawalpindi District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zaffar said the administration was trying to contact the relatives of the dead and leaders of Shia community to hand the dead bodies.
He said there were three dead bodies from Rawalpindi, while the rest were to be transported to different areas of Punjab and Sindh.
Regarding the 19th victim, the DCO said it was being kept under consideration for further test to determine the relationship between the deceased and the claiming relative.
About the transportation of the dead bodies, he said it was preferred that the families themselves collected the bodies, however, if they could not afford to, the district government would help them in the process.
Thursday 17 January 2013
http://tribune.com.pk/story/495001/mastung-bombing-funerals-offered-for-15-victims/
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