July 12, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 8, 1429

KARACHI, July 11: Family members of Rizwan Awan, one of the three persons missing since the October 18 twin blasts near Karsaz who were recently declared dead by the police authorities, have refuted the official claim after visiting the Garhi Khuda Bakhsh cemetery on Friday.

According to the police, one of the 14 unclaimed human remains buried at the graveyard have scientifically been matched with 18-year-old Rizwan’s.

More than 50 people, including friends, family members and relatives of the missing Rizwan, reached Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to bring his remains back on Friday afternoon for burial in the Paposh Nagar graveyard. However, when the grave – said by the authorities to contain Rizwan’s remains – was disinterred, they found out that it was purely an identifiable body of an old man.

The 24-hour episode ended with disappointment for the family members of Rizwan, who were told by the authorities after a nine-month lethargic process of DNA profiling that he was among the 150 people who died in the twin blasts.

“We were told that our blood samples have been matched with the DNA profiles created from the remains buried in grave No 18 in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh,” Farooq Awan, an elder brother of Rizwan, told Dawn on return to his Gulshan-i-Iqbal residence.

“When the remains were exhumed from the particular grave, we were shocked to find that the poor victim – aged between 50 to 60 years – was clearly identifiable. There was no major damage to his torso,” he observed.

Alleging that the police authorities and the other institutions concerned tried to make fools of the families of the missing persons, he said the whole process of DNA profiling and then its matching with the blood samples was a fake exercise to satisfy the aggrieved families, who were exposing the non-professional approach of the investigators.

Though the police official concerned avoided commenting on the issue, a source close to the process said that out of the three people identified as confirmed victims of the October 18 bombings, the family of only one approached the authorities to exhume the remains of their loved one buried in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.

“So far the families of the two other victims did not opt for exhumation of the bodies but now they can question the whole process and approach the high-ups,” he added.

Plan to move court

However, Mr Awan said he would now consult lawyers to approach court to seek justice and accountability of the people and institutions concerned, whose inhuman approach made the extremely sensitive issue a ‘joke.’

“My family in general and aged mother in particular has been under tremendous stress for the last nine months. Unfortunately, instead of healing our wounds the government functionaries have returned us only shocks,” he added.