KARACHI: Having found his family friend and brother-in-law, Zubair Ahmed, 33 — who had been buried by Saudi authorities in Mina without his family being informed — Zafar Tahir felt empty but decided not to get back empty-handed. As a result, he looked for the personal belongings of all three of his relatives who went missing in the Mina stampede and were later found dead.

Speaking to Dawn over the phone, the 53-year-old who reached Karachi a day before and is residing at Zubair’s home in North Nazimabad, said there was a reason he specifically looked for their personal belongings even after he received confirmation of their deaths. “I found closure during my search. During the entire journey I didn’t break down once. But receiving their belongings, especially Zubair’s, brought back a lot of memories. Finally, I could just sit down and grieve,” he said.

Considering that families of the missing or the unidentified are finding it difficult to even get close to mortuaries, getting back personal belongings is a huge feat in itself, he added. Just like the bodies, the belongings of every Haji have been wrapped in a cellophane sheet with a serial number, but since the process is arduous many families don’t opt for it.

Living in Houston, Texas, it was difficult for Zafar to verify the details coming in about the Hajis. In order to find out for himself, he left for Jeddah on Sept 29. Throughout his journey, Zafar kept updating his family members through Facebook posts. On reaching Jeddah, on Sept 30, Zafar updated everyone and said that social media worked way better “in dealing with the enormity of what happened to our family.”

On Oct 1, Zafar met the religious leader who had led the group of Hajis. “He didn’t like being questioned. And I had a lot of questions on my mind. We met him at the Maktab number 85 in Mina where our relatives had lived. And on looking at the information he shared — which amounted to nothing — I left to search on my own,” he added.

The first stop was the place where all five were together the day the Mina stampede happened. He updated his family on Facebook, adding that, “We re-traced the places they had been to — Muzdalifa, Mina and Jamarat — and then visited the site of the initial stampede. It is a dangerously narrow alley and it was not easy to be there.”

Next, he went to the mortuary. The facility is set up in a tent on the outskirts of Mina, right opposite the Mina Medical Complex, and had around 1,209 photos of those who died in the stampede, said Zafar. In order to enter, mobile phones had to be checked in to security and an identity card be shown.

“A foul smell greeted us as soon as we entered the facility. The bodies were being treated before they were put in refrigerated trucks as most were not in a condition to be kept the way they were. Faces and upper torsos of several were bruised and battered. It is something I won’t be able to get out of my mind,” he narrated.

In these ‘refrigerated trucks’ he said, bodies had been allotted serial numbers, and their photos pasted outside the tent.

The same day, Zafar found two of his relatives by tracing the photo through the serial number he had. “We were lucky to be informed by the authorities a day before the burial of Iftikhar chacha and Talmeez bhai. Otherwise, they [Saudi authorities] don’t spare a minute before burying the dead,” he said.

On his Facebook post, he updated the family that they had “found the location where Talmeez bhai and Iftikhar chacha were buried by peering through a crack in the wall [after it was pointed out to us]. We were not allowed to go in, so we offered fatiha on the spot. It was very painful but something we had to do,” he revealed.

He also added that the calamity is too big and the unofficial numbers are much higher. “Patients might be in hospitals in Madina, Jeddah or Ta’if. Nobody knows.”

Seeing his family friends buried was still a source of comfort as speculation was rife, and still is, about the number of unidentified bodies that were buried without proper identification. Denying that, Zafar says, “There were no mass graves and no bulldozers were used to even out the area to make space for the growing numbers of bodies piling up. It is true, however, that the space in mortuaries is running out. But so is the fact that the Saudi authorities have a meticulous system of keeping a record of all of them.”

On Oct 3, Zafar received information that Zubair Ahmed had been buried. The confirmation came around 11pm. When they reached the same tent in Mina where the bodies were kept in refrigerated trucks, there were no pictures to sort through this time around.

“It came as a shock. Then security officials informed us that people were clicking pictures from the lists and spreading them on social networking websites which was adding to the chaos and increasing the number of people lining up in front of the mortuaries,” he said.

Since Zubair was recognised through his fingerprints taken at the airport, Zafar didn’t question the authorities as to why they buried him without informing the family.

Speaking carefully, he said, “They have a system. And it is much better that he is buried in a peaceful place.” He posted a photo on Facebook as soon as he found the cemetery in Mina where Zubair was buried.

A day before his flight to Karachi, Zafar got information about Zubair’s personal belongings by getting hold of the owner of Maktab 85 in Mina. “He was trying to wriggle out of the situation by citing legalities. He was right. But by then I was determined to at least take something back home, thinking about Zubair’s young wife, Anam. She has been really strong throughout this tragedy.”

On getting the packet, and finally getting a few minutes to himself, he finally cried for the entire family that died in the stampede. “Among Zubair’s belongings were the ID cards and badges of all four elders, which is what all Pakistani children do. I couldn’t find his mother, Rana Fareed, but I know she’s buried there somewhere. And that thought itself is a relief for us,” he added.

Published in Dawn, October 11th , 2015

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