Remains of Sehwan blast victims found lying by nullah

SEHWAN: Remains of the people killed in the attack on the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar have been found lying by a nullah (drain) in Sehwan.

"They should have buried these body parts for the sake of humanity," an agitated local told Geo News. "This is very sad – the inefficient administration should be ashamed of leaving [the deceased's] body parts like this."

Locals have also complained of rank and pungent smell that has filled the air because of the decaying body parts lying in the open.

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When asked, Jamshoro Deputy Commissioner Munawar Mahesar told Geo News he had personally looked over the collection of body parts of people killed in the attack. The deputy commissioner added he was not sure how the remains were found lying by the nullah. He maintained the matter was being looked into.

However, he added, if the hair of the deceased got swept away while cleaning the premises then that is another matter. "But body parts cannot be thrown away," Mahesar said.

Speaking to the media, Jamshoro SSP Tariq Wilayat said after such a large number of casualties, small parts of organs are mixed with blood and hence cleaned away.

At least 88 people were martyred in the suicide bombing which took place on Thursday during the dhamaal at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.

Expressing anger, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah ordered an investigation into the matter. "I am very hurt do not add to my grief," the chief minister was quoted as saying.

Remains were 'blown away' by blast: Khursheed Shah

But, speaking to reporters on Saturday, PPP senior leader and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah, said the remains had been "blown away into the distance" due to the impact of the explosion.

"You see, in this (sic) haphazard, things were blown off into a distance. You don't understand, you only know how to question. All these were blown away [because of the impact of the blast] out of the doors of the shrine," he said, replying to a Geo News reporter when he asked him about the remains.

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"They must have fallen into a nullah and nobody would have noticed. This is no fault of the Sindh government or the federal government. They did not dump them there in the nullah," he said.

The open nullah is more than half a kilometer away from the shrine.

Oddly, the senior leader of the PPP – which has been the ruling party in the province for over eight years – appeared not have paid attention to the fact that the suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside the main covered compound of the shrine, taking away any possibility of the remains being 'blown away' by the impact.

Geo News reporter Qaseem Saeed visited the site of the blast again on Thursday to check if Shah's explanation could be true.

"The shrine has very think walls and a golden dome on top, with no opening for body parts to be blown away outside by the impact of the blast. Even if they were, it is hard to explain how they all landed by the nullah half a kilometer away and were not found anywhere in the surrounding areas," said Saeed, reporting from Sehwan. 

No headway in investigation 

Two days have passed but the identity of the suicide bomber who attacked the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar still remains a mystery. 

While talking to the media on Friday, Jamshoro SSP Tariq said a FIR has been registered against the suicide bomber and three facilitators. However, he added, they have gathered all the footages and were trying to connect them to find out who carried out the attack.

Read: Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine suicide bomber not yet identified