KARACHI: Asghar Khan, who came down to the metropolis from his hometown in Kohat around Eid to welcome his mother at the airport following her Haj, now only wishes to receive her body after a week-long search fails to find her, it emerged on Friday.

“My 67-year-old mother, Shaala Bibi, who went to perform Haj with my younger brother Zafar Khan, has been missing since the Sept 23 stampede in Mina,” says 45-year-old Asghar while speaking to Dawn.

Asghar currently resides in Ittehad Town near Baldia and hasn’t left for Kohat since the news about the stampede hit the headlines.

He quotes his brother as saying that after the stampede, he looked for her in hospitals and mortuaries but so far he hasn’t been successful.

“During the walk near Muzdalifa, my brother had picked her up as he couldn’t get a wheelchair for her,” he narrates what his brother told him on the phone from Jeddah. All of a sudden, a push from a group of people near Maktab 93 caused Zafar to overbalance and fall on his face along with the mother. “For at least an hour after that, he stayed that way trying to protect our mother but she was dragged away because of the constant push by the incoming group. Minutes later, he lost consciousness himself,” Asghar explains.

Zafar was helped by a Sudanese woman who gave him water and helped him stand on his feet.

“He went to look for my mother amid the pile of bodies that were lying around after the stampede had subsided, but he couldn’t find her. Then he searched for her in hospitals and mortuaries but with no luck,” Asghar says.

Containers

The only place left to look at are the containers where the bodies are kept for identification by their families. Zafar has not been able to access those as there is a long line of relatives already before him.

“The reason I am speaking to the media is to highlight our case. Also, because there’s no help or assistance provided by our own people deputed over there. I’d be fine even if I receive my mother’s body because she is a martyr,” he says, his voice quivering with emotion.

While having said that, he complains about the number of “unverified stories” about Hajis doing the rounds on television and social networking websites.

“Every few hours a story floats about a ‘missing person’ who was found through the help of a particular politician or MPA and then it turns out to be false. Grieving for a person who might be alive is excruciating enough. Please don’t make a joke out of our ordeal,” he appeals to the people making up such stories.

Published in Dawn October 3rd, 2015

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