KARACHI: Family identifies Ramzi’s remains

Published December 22, 2002

KARACHI, Dec 21: Police handed over the body of Asif Ramzi to his mother and wife on Saturday after his identity was established.

The remains of another body were identified as those of Amir Memon, a resident of Kharadar. These remains were handed over to Mr Memon’s father, Haji Amanullah.

The mother of Asif Ramzi, Hajra Bibi, and his wife, Sofia Ramzi, were approached on Saturday by the police who took them to the Edhi morgue, near Sohrab Goth. There the remains of Asif Ramzi were shown to them.

Hajra Bibi and Sofia Ramzi both observed the remains in detail and ultimately recognized them as of Asif Ramzi, who was among the four who died in Thursday’s explosion in Korangi.

Sofia Ramzi said her husband had met her on Wednesday and had promised to see her again on Thursday but didn’t turn up. She told the police that Ramzi always honoured his promises and his not turning up was strange.

She positively identified him after looking at the foot, which was similar to his mother’s foot. Hajra Bibi, who also examined the remains closely, was convinced that they were the remains of her son.

She also recognized her son from the left foot. She said the mark on her son’s foot was similar to the mark of her own foot.

Police recorded the statements of Hajra Bibi and Sofia Ramzi in front of Farooq Naimatullah, Nazim of the Gulberg Town.

Abdur Rasheed, the brother-in-law of Asif Ramzi, told Dawn that they were confused on Friday and had failed to recognize the remains. He stated there was no pressure from the police, or any other law-enforcement agency, and had made their statement without duress.

Talking to reporters, Hajra Bibi — a resident of a house near Enquiry Office in Nazimabad — said the police had picked up some family-members of Asif Ramzi and put them behind bars at Surjani Town police station for a month to force her son to surrender.

She called her son a ‘mujahid’ and said the police actually sat inside her house in civvies to trap Asif.

Fayyaz Leghari, the DIG Investigations, said: “We are now sure that it was Asif Ramzi, as his mother and wife have identified him. We have obtained samples from the mother and also the remains of Ramzi and we may go through DNA tests to rule out all the other possibilities.”

He said three of the dead had been identified so far and there could be one or two more, who are yet to be identified as the bodies were in pieces and it was difficult even to count them.

The remains of the other body were identified as those of Amir Memon by his father Haji Amanullah, who reached the Edhi morgue in the afternoon.

Mr Amanullah, a resident of Shama Centre in Kharadar, said Amir was the eldest among his four sons and a daughter. Amir went out of his home to offer Fajr prayers on Thursday but did not return.

The remains of Amir Memon were taken to Mewa Shah graveyard for burial.

The mutilated bodies of four persons (possibly) were found in the debris after a powerful explosion at a house in Allahwala Town, sector 31-B Korangi, at around 9.45am on Thursday. Three of them were identified as those of Asif Ramzi, Amir Memon and Nadeem Abbas — a constable in Anti-Corruption Establishment and activist of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan.

The police said Asif Ramzi was wanted in several bomb explosions and sectarian killings. He carried a head-money of Rs3 million.