Afghans remove gold from bodies of victims

Published October 20, 2005

LAHORE, Oct 19: Afghan refugees are allegedly removing gold bangles and rings from corpses of women by chopping off their hands and fingers.

In a telegram sent to President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Aalmi Tanzim Ahle Sunnat information secretary Shahid Gardezi said teams of his group engaged in relief activities in Battal and Muzaffarabad had found many bodies of women with chopped hands and fingers.

The accused, he said, were pretending to be rescue workers and were also responsible for looting relief goods from trucks.

Those who resisted were badly tortured, he said.

He demanded that police raids should be conducted to recover looted goods from their camps and they should be awarded exemplary punishment.

The quake victims, he said, were in distress and were not ready to stretch their hands for help but undeserving people were taking away every thing at gunpoint.