MUZAFFARABAD: Lt Nasir Hussain Khalid, who was martyred in an IED explosion in North Waziristan the other day, was laid to rest with full military honours in a local graveyard on Friday.

Army personnel carried the coffin, draped in the national flag of Pakistan, and then lowered it into his last resting place near a seminary where he had learnt the holy Quran as a child.

A large number of people, including local army commanders, were present in the graveyard who later laid wreaths on the grave on behalf of the army’s top brass, including the chief of the army staff.

Earlier, Lt Khalid’s funeral prayers were offered by hundreds of people in K.H. Khurshid Football Stadium, including AJK President Sardar Masood Khan, Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and PTI regional chief Barrister Sultan Mahmood.

Lt Khalid was born in Muzaffarbad. He was one of the five children of police official Naseer Salaria.

Paying tribute to him at his funeral, Prime Minister Haider said yet another son of Kashmir had sacrificed his life for the defence of Pakistan that every Kashmiri considered as their ultimate destination.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020