Siraj Raisani laid to rest in Mastung

QUETTA: Nawab Siraj Raisani, who was among 131 people martyred in the Mastung suicide blast, was laid to rest in Mastung late Saturday.

The Mustang attack was one of the bloodiest in Pakistan’s history and the fourth attack in the last seven days targeting election candidates.

Funeral prayers for the martyred Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate were offered in Quetta earlier the day.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Commander of Southern Command LT General Asim Saleem Bajwa attended the funeral prayers.

Inspector General FC Major General Nadeem Anjum, caretaker Balochistan chief minister Alauddin Marri, provincial ministers, chief secretary and members of civil bureaucracy attended the funeral.

Raisani was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Kanak area of Mastung district in Balochistan. The martyr was laid to rest near the graves of his father Nawab Ghaus Baksh Raisani and his son Mir Haqmal Raisani.

The interim government has announced one-day mourning nationwide on Sunday, while the Balochistan government announced two-days of mourning in the province following the attack. 

Raisani was recently elected as the chairperson of Balochistan Muttahida Mahaz and merged his party with the Balochistan Awami Party on June 3. He was scheduled to contest for PP-35 (Mastung).

The deceased had lost his son Akmal Raisani in a bomb blast at Mastung in July 2011.

The Mastung attack was the most lethal since Taliban militants assaulted Peshawar’s Army Public School in 2014, killing over 150 people, mostly children, and one of the deadliest in the country´s long fight against terrorism.