[IbnAbdullah]

(translated from Urdu)
Friday, August 03, 2007

Report: Sa’id Ahmed ‘Abbasi

Roznama Ummat (Daily Ummat)

Jami’ah Hafsah

Relatives of students refused to receive bodies

‘My dear son Shahid ‘Uthman, though you have left and made me sorrowful but still I congratulate you on the shahadat (martyrdom). I’m not angry with you, I’m taking you to the village from here so that not you but at least your grave remains before my eyes there. Don’t be displeased.’

12 o’ clock at night, darkness all around, when these words were spoken by the trembling lips of the mother of Shahid ‘Uthman with tears and sobs in the graveyard of H-11, Islamabad, they made everyone’s eyes wet. Shahid ‘Uthman was the resident of the village Shakar Darah in district Attock and his picture was shown in the media as a foreigner after the Lal Masjid operation was over. When his body was identified after the DNA testing, his mother got the graveyard at 12 o’ clock at night to receive the body. She was insisting on government officials that she couldn’t wait for the daytime and that she should be handed over the coffin box of his son immediately. Therefore it wasn’t a few minutes passed since 31st of July started that Shahid’s coffin was taken out from the grave amidst the lights of Emergency lights and Petromax and then the lady held the coffin with both hands and sat by the head part of the coffin and wished him good luck and set off to the village along with the coffin. The father of Shahid Shaheed of Shakar Darah is lying in bed because of the grief but the mother wanders about Islamabad and Rawalpindi for the dead and alive sons. One son ‘Uthman was found in the coffin but the other wounded son Safiullah waits for his mother everyday in the Adyala Jail. Shahid ‘Uthman was 16 and Safiullah is 18 years old, both were studying at Lal Masjid.


After the farewell of Shahid ‘Uthman from the graveyard I got the hotel when there were a few hours to the morning and in the morning I had to move about between the sports complex and the graveyard. Strange that the grave digger was nowhere to be seen during the process of opening the grave. Later when he received the bribe in order to have a conversation, it became clear to me why he disappears while the graves are opened.
The next afternoon when I went to the graveyard, the crowd of people had grown in size, Edhi Ambulances and officials’ vehicles were present but local people were also moving about between graves holding the bags of rose petals. At night when Shahid ‘Uthman’s mother took away the coffin, I had properly gone wet because just after a short while heavy rain started but in the afternoon when the graves were being opened, the sun was showering fire on us. The magistrate was in his vehicle and a few policemen along with two representatives of the magistrate determined the correct graves and allowed them to be opened. Some coffins which were opened in the beginning left after ordinary procedures were carried out amidst tears and sobs. But the legatees of the body which was identified as In’amullah brought about chaos. They wanted to open the coffin box and see what inside was. Who could stop them but a man in plain clothes did say, ‘Bhai jaan, it was your bigotry which caused the loss in the masjid, just take it away why dishonour the body.’


But before he finished his speech the lid of coffin had been opened and everyone held one’s breath and waited to see the body coming out. The ice was broken by the humming of the crowd which changed to the hue and cry, seeing this anger the policemen went away under the shade of the tent but the court officials looked worried about what to do. There was no body in the coffin box except 3 bags; you can say they were 3 bags of flesh. Neither the head was differentiated nor the foot. Some people couldn’t tolerate to see that and holding their heads they moved away, but I had to stand by under the burden of my duty. Ayub Mazari who called himself the relative of In’amullah made a noise why there were 3 bags. If it’s the body of one person why it isn’t all togethNo one had the answer to this and then Mazaris decided that wasn’t the body of their man. If one of the bags is In’amullah then how to make sure which one exactly. The magistrate was inside his vehicle. His representative wearing the mask and holding the register, scratched his head or his waist time and again. His fellow with a wireless set said again and again that they should go and tell the boss. In this confusion the coffin box was buried again and earth was put on top. I don’t know where the grave-number had gone, now this grave is just a pile of earth with no grave-number. A man moved forward and wanted to sprinkle some rose petals on it then an angry old man scolded him saying leave these martyrs alone, they don’t need that. The time when the process of grave opening was going on, women in burqa were sitting here and there under the shade of trees. When the grave of their relatives were opened they came closer to the graveyard and on the coffin boxes coming out their silent tears and comforting each other saddened the locals as well who didn’t have any relative buried there. Men were busy at covering the coffins with cloths and sheets and women at crying, but children were care free and were running and playing around the graves..