Collective funeral of 42 martyred soldiers held

Mardan—Collective funeral of 42 soldiers who died in a suicide attack at a military training camp in Dargai on Wednesday, was held Thursday here at Punjab Regimental Centre. Senior Army officials besides thousands of mourners attended the funeral in tears. 40 martyred soldiers belonged to Punjab and NWFP, equally shared by the two provinces. Two belonged to Sindh. The 42 coffins were covered in national flag of Pakistan and were brought in Regimental Centre in Mardan. The mourners were utterly moved and came to tears when 42 coffins draped in national colour were brought in. The names of the soldiers whose funeral were held included Tehsil Jind District Attock Amjad Mehmood, Zahid Hussain Shah of Abbottabad, Arshad Abbas of District Jhang, Asif Saeed of District Jehlum, Roah al Hayat of District Charsadda, Rafaqat Hussain of District Rawalpindi Tehsil Kahuta, Adnan Hussain of District Sargodha, Tehsil Pahlrwan, Waqas Ali of Swabi, Dilshad Ali of Bhakar, Rehamdin of Tehsil Bara Khyber Agency, Nakhuda Hussain and Lab Hussain of Shakargarh District Narowal, Salman of Charsadda, Shakeel Ahmed of Haripur, Muhammad Akmal of Bhakar, Waqas Ali of Mansehra, Shaukat Ali of District
Khar, Haji Malha of Khairpur, Simab Ali of Nowshera, Javed Iqbal of Laki Marwat, Mushtaq Ali of Charsadda, Imtiaz Muhammad of Kohat, Amir Nawaz of Khurshab, Afghan Ahmed of Laki Marwat, Amin Khan of District Esaa Khel, Aslam of Bara Koah, Imtiaz Ahmed of Makhdoom Pur Khanewal, Liaqat of Mansehra, Habib Ejaz Shah of Jhang, M Iqbal of Nowshera, Tariq of Kotabad, Kamran of Domeli Sohawa, Mian Nasir of Mian Chunno, Syed Minhas and Zaheer Abbas of Chakwal, Shoaib of Rawalpindi, Muhammad Shafiq of Mansehra, Mobeen Hussain of Tehsil Toba Tek Singh.After the Namaz-e-Jinaza, the bodies of 42 soldiers were handed over to their relatives who later took them to their respective native villages for burial.
Meanwhile, the Interior Minister, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, said in Swabi, Thursday that the country could not be left to the mercy of terrorists and warned that stern action would be taken against terrorists.
“The suspected seminaries are under strict vigil and details about their suspected activities are being collected,” he said. He expressed these views while talking to reporters here on Thursday. He said that action would be taken against the elements found involved in imparting training to the terrorists and suicide attackers.
Responding to a question he termed Dargai incident as a great national tragedy. He said that a suspect had been arrested and was being questioned.
Sherpao said that intelligence reports suggest that Dargai incident was a reaction to the Bajaur air strike. He said, “Terrorists and suicide attackers are the enemies of the country who want to harm national development and international investment but the government will not bow down before them”.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani on Thursday said the government would bring the perpetrators to task those involved in unfortunate Dargai incident.The Minister said it is an hour of grief and sorrow for everyone as innocent recruits undergoing training at Punjab Regimental Training Centre in Dargai were in their teens.Addressing a seminar, Senator Durrani stressed the need to follow the thinking of Allama Iqbal who rendered unique services for the supreme cause of the people of the sub-continent.
The Minister said Iqbal’s inspired comprehension of Islam and his emphasis on its role in awakening the nation was a source of inspiration for the Muslims of the sub-continent. He inspired them to gain independence and his writings created an intellectual environment in which the concept of a separate homeland for Muslims grew and resulted in fruition.
He said it was his sincere efforts that they gathered under the banner of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who ultimately created a separate homeland.
Eulogizing Iqbal’s work, he hoped the new generation will follow him in letter and spirit by adopting a constructive approach in their lives, acquiring knowledge, as well as excellence in science and technology.The Minister said the love for humanity had been the basis of Iqbal’s poetry and we should seek direction from his message and follow it to achieve goals for which the country was created.
The accomplice of Dargai suicide attacker could not be arrested or traced down yet.
Security forces are still hunting down the accomplice of the Suicide attacker who on Wednesday morning blew himself up in a Army training ground in Dargai killing 42 Jawans. Despite using army K-9 unit dogs the accomplice of the suicide attacker could not be traced
in the nearby fields. Malakand Levies, FC and army Jawans are busy in tracing down the suspect.
Meanwhile, Wahdat-e-Usatza drew back the call of a strike, which they were planning to observe to mark their protest against a military attack on Bajaur seminary, in which 80 people mostly young students were killed last month.
In a press statement Maulana Habib ul Haq, general secretary Wahat-e-Usatza said the call for a strike against Bajaur bombing has been taken back in the wake of Dargai suicide attack. We are with our military and condemn this, cowardly act. We also condemn this
suicide attack which is solely aimed to sabotage the peace and security of Malakand  Agency.—Online