RAWALPINDI: Former head of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) retired Lt-Gen Hameed Gul was laid to rest at the army graveyard here on Sunday evening.

He died of a brain hemorrhage at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Murree on Saturday night.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and former army chiefs Aslam Beg, Waheed Kakar, Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani along with federal minister Abdul Qadir Baloch, retired General Ali Kuli Khan, AJK president Sardar Yaqoob, former AJK prime minister Sardar Attique attended the funeral prayers.

Besides, known religious leaders were also present. Prominent among them were Muttahida Jihad Council supreme commander Syed Salahuddin, Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, JUI-S leader Maulana Samiul Haq, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Maulana Abdul Rehman Makki.

The Pakistan Army arranged the funeral prayers. The Racecourse Road from Peshawar Road to the army graveyard was closed for traffic.

Long queues of vehicles were witnessed on Peshawar Road on the occasion.

Meanwhile, none of the ruling PML-N leaders attended the funeral of the former ISI chief despite the fact that the Sharif family was considered to be close to him.

Hameed Gul was the architect of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) which political observers say was formed to stop the PPP led by Benazir Bhutto from getting a two-third majority in the 1988 general elections.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2015

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