July 8, 2002	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 26,1423

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JALALABAD, July 7: The assassinated Afghan Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir was buried in his hometown on Sunday as thousands of mourners tried to contain their grief and anger.

Seven shots were fired into the air as Qadir’s coffin was lowered into a burial plot at the Baghi Amir Shahid mosque in central Jalalabad in the eastern Afghanistan province of Nangarhar.

Stones and a mound of earth were piled on top of his coffin.

Around 10,000 people attended the funeral while an even bigger crowd had earlier paid their last respects at the Eidgah mosque next to his Nangarhar governor’s residence.

Many of the men were openly weeping as the stream of dignitaries paid tribute, often chanting his name in unison, amid chaotic scenes as many tried to grab a glimpse of the coffin draped in green velvet and the green, black and red Afghanistan’s national flag.

Among the mourners was his brother and former interior minister Haji Din Mohammad, his fellow vice presidents — Amin Hedayat Arsala and Namatullah Shahrani — and other cabinet ministers.

Earlier, President Hamid Karzai led mourners at a ceremony for Qadir in Kabul before his body was flow to Jalalabad.

Shahrani, who was representing Karzai at the burial ceremony in Jalalabad, said he wanted to “convey the sympathy of the transitional government of this martyr. “He was not only a national personality, but a Jihad hero (of the holy war) and his place in the history of Afghanistan is assured.”—AFP