LAHORE: Confusion prevailed at the Multan airport on Wednesday over the arrival of the bodies of nine Pakistani workers who were killed by unknown gunmen in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province on Jan 27.

Official sources in Multan told Dawn the plane carrying the bodies, which was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, could not take off from Quetta due to bad weather and is expected to arrive today (Thursday).

Families and friends of the workers had already arrived in Multan to rece­i­ve the bodies and take them to their native towns Alipur and Lodhran for burial.

The workers, from the districts of Muzaffargarh, Bahawalpur and Lodhran, had gone to Iran in search of a better livelihood.

According to sources, the bodies will be flown from Quetta, where they were brought from Iran earlier on Tuesday.

The bodies will be taken to their ancestral villages, where they will be laid to rest after funeral prayers.

Two of them were brothers, and another was their maternal uncle. They hailed from Ali­pur tehsil in the Muzaffar­garh district.

Villagers expressed sorrow and anger over the killing of their loved ones, demanding justice and compensation from the governments of Pakistan and Iran.

Pakistan urged the Iranian authorities to initiate a comprehensive investigation into the incident, with the culprits being held accountable for the killing of Pakistanis.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2024