Thousands of people have gathered for the funeral of a Pakistani student found dead in a German jail while awaiting trial for an alleged assault over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, officials said. More than 20,000 attended funeral prayers for 28-year-old Amir Cheema in the dusty town of Saroki near the eastern city of Lahore, said a local government spokesman. An official from an Islamic party put the figure at close to 40,000. "It was a big funeral, participated by up to 20,000 people," Punjab provincial government spokesman Chaudhry Iqbal told AFP. "Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi provided his own helicopter to transport the body from Lahore airport to his native village," Mr Iqbal said. "The funeral was held peacefully," he said, adding that about a dozen people fainted due to scorching heat. Earlier senior government officials and close relatives were present on the tarmac when the plane carrying Cheema's body landed in Lahore from Frankfurt. Hundreds of people, mostly members of hardline Islamic parties had gathered outside the airport but police prevented them from entering the premises, witnesses said. "We adopted strict security measures and no incident took place," police officer Ahmed Din told AFP.
People in Saroki, chanting "Long Live Martyr Cheema" and "God is Great", showered rose petals on the coffin as it was taken from his family home for Islamic burial in a nearby graveyard, witnesses said. Some party activists carried banners calling on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to "Go and bring the killers."
| Kinda hard to do that, since he offed himself. But if you're determined not to believe it, I guess the demand makes some sort of sense. Kind of, anyway. Though I wouldn't think Pakland was in any position to go snatching German officials to be mistreated in Multan. |