KARACHI: The funeral prayer of slain Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq was offered at the Jinnah Ground in Karachi’s Azizabad area amid strict security on Saturday.
The prayer was led by Maulana Asad Thanvi and Dr Farooq’s body was now being transported to the Shuhada graveyard for burial.
Dr Farooq’s body was taken to the Jinnah Ground from MQM headquarters, better known as ‘Nine Zero’.
Earlier today, a PIA aircraft carrying the body arrived at the Karachi airport. The body was then shifted into an ambulance of the Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation (KKF) and was first taken to Dr Farooq’s Sharifabad residence before being shifted to Nine Zero. Several MQM leaders and workers had gathered at the airport to receive the body.
Dr Farooq will be buried in the Shuhada graveyard in Yasinabad.
The PIA flight that brought his body reportedly left London’s Heathrow Airport for Karachi after a one-hour-long delay due to unfavourable weather conditions.
Farooq’s family members, including his widow Shumaila Imran, his children, parents, sisters and brothers-in-law arrived here on the same flight.
Moreover, MQM’s Coordination Committee’s Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar, members Coordination Committee Raza Haroon and Wasay Jaleel also arrived on the flight.
MQM leaders Babar Ghauri and Rauf Siddiqui had reached the Karachi airport to receive the body. Governor Sindh Ishratul Ebad and Interior Minister Rehman Malik had also arrived at the airport to receive the body.
MQM said arrangements to ensure maximum security had been finalised and hundreds of workers of the MQM were assisting the local administration in this regard.
“We are satisfied with the security measures employed in the city,” MQM MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi said.
After the arrival of Dr Farooq’s body, the patch of Shahrah-i-Faisal from the airport to Karsaz had been closed for all transport.
Also, both public and private transport stayed off the roads and commercial centres remained closed, giving the city a deserted look as people chose to remain indoors.
A prominent member of the MQM, Dr Farooq was stabbed to death outside his home in London in September.
The 50-year-old politician had been living there in self-imposed exile since fleeing a crackdown on the MQM in 1992.
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