LAHORE, July 10: A number of people who died in Monday’s plane crash left a large number of mourners because of their services, profession and clout. Among them were judges of the high court, seven doctors, senior professors and an agriculture scientist.

Dr Muhammad Naseer Khan, the vice-chancellor of the Bahauddin Zakariya University, was doctrate in physcics. He had rendered services as a teacher in the UK and the US besides the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Science and Technology.

He was also awarded Pride of Performance in 1998 and Sitar-i-Imtiaz in 2002. He belonged to Abbottabad

Dr Islam Gill headed the premier Central Cotton Research Institute, Multan. In recognition of his services, he was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 2005.

Dr Iftikhar Ali Raja, a neuro-surgeon and former principal of the Nishtar Medical College, Multan, was highly respected in the medical community. He also left behind a large number of mourners as patients visited him from entire Punjab as he did practice in Multan and Lahore.

Prof Dr Altaf Hussain was the head of the psychiatry department, Bahawal Victoria Hospital and Quaid-i-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur. His wife Naheed Fatima is a senior gynecologist at the same hospital. He was on his way to Singapore via Islamabad.

Prof Dr Abdul Rauf was the head of Bahauddin Zakariya University’s Urdu department and a known critic.

Justice Nawaz Bhatti had been a prominent lawyer of Sheikhupura bar before his selection as judge. He belonged to Sathyali village in Sangla Hill tehsil. festival cancelled: In view of the crash of PIA Fokker plane, the Pak-Malaysia mango festival scheduled for July 14 was cancelled, said district nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar.