Over 4,000 attend Ghazi's funeral

More than 4,000 people attended the funeral prayers of Lal Masjid Naib Khateeb, Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi. Mostly activists of JUI-F, JUI-S, SSP and elite of Rahimyar Khan, Kashmore, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Bugti joined the funeral rites. Maulana Abdul Aziz led the funeral prayers.
Earlier, all the participants saw the face of Maulana Abdul Rasheed in a long queue. Later, addressing the audience Maulana Abdul Aziz said, "I had worn the 'Burqa' as per my strategy because I wanted to come out secretly to play my role." He said he was forced to wear the Burqa by the police while presenting him before the television and media.
He said Rangers had besieged our religious institution for the last eight days and they did not let anyone come in or out. Our students (males or females) were hungry for seven days, while our water, electricity supply was also suspended.
He said: "We, the both brothers wanted to enforce Shariah in the country, as it was our mission. My right hand my brother has been martyred, but I am alive and would continue my mission of enforcement of Shariah till death. I shall complete the mission of my brother." Participants shouted slogans "Zinda Hay Ghazi Zinda Hay, Zalimo Jawab Do Khoon Ka Hisab Do."
They also chanted slogans against the government. Earlier, the remains of Rashid Ghazi were brought late night to Basti Abdullah from Islamabad and kept at the house of his maternal uncle. Abdul Aziz was released on parole to attend the funeral. The female members of the family were also brought to Basti Abdullah.
Maulana Abdul Aziz, family women and other members paid last respects to the deceased at the house. People from Basti Abdullah and adjoining areas attended funeral prayers in large number. People paid tributes to Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi and demanded inquiry of the Lal Masjid incident by the Supreme Court. Immediately after the funeral prayers Maulana Abdul Aziz was drove back in a Rangers vehicle under strict security.
AFP adds: The hard-line mullah's bearded face, minus his signature glasses, could be seen as he was wrapped in a burial shroud and placed in a wooden coffin two days after he was cut down in crossfire making a last stand at his mosque. His elder brother Abdul Aziz, the leader of the mosque who was captured last week, and other family members who had been arrested by authorities were allowed to attend the last rites.
"I lost my brother, my students, for the enforcement of Islamic sharia (law)," Aziz told mourners, speaking under tight police guard. "Ghazi and all those who died in the mosque are shaheed (martyrs). My wife and daughters are in custody but this will not stop us from struggling for an Islamic system," he said.
Witnesses said Aziz was taken away before his brother's burial as hundreds of people surrounded the police car carrying him. Uniformed and plainclothes police were deployed in their hundreds in the area to maintain security as authorities feared a backlash over the killings at the Red Mosque complex, officials said. Asma Aziz, the 14-year-old daughter of the surviving cleric Aziz, said she wanted to die inside the mosque, her lawyer told AFP. "I wanted to remain with uncle shaheed Ghazi, fighting till the end, but my mother asked me to accompany her," lawyer Hashmat Habib quoted Asma as telling him on Wednesday, when he met her.
Asma, her elder sister and their mother will face charges including the murder of security personnel in the anti-terrorism court, the lawyer said. Asma also denied that her father wanted to escape and said authorities had asked him to cover his face to avoid the media and told him a meeting had been arranged with a top government official, she said.
"He wanted to save the lives of hundreds of men, women and children," she reportedly said. "I know him as his daughter, he would have never surrendered."