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Madar-i-Millat laid to rest

2017-07-12
AMIDST scenes marked with feelings of devotion, solemnity and reverence, Madar-i-Millat Mohtarama Miss Fatima Jinnah was laid to rest alongside the Quaid-i-Azam`s Mazar at 12-35 p.m. on Monday [July 10 J.

A record crowd of hundreds of thousands of grief-stricken citizens young and old, high and low accompanied the funeral procession along the four-mile long route from the Polo Ground to the Mazar to pay their last homage to the memory of the great lady.

In the grave, 120 feet from the Quaid-i-Azam`s Mazar and near the graves of Shaheed-i-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan and Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, Madar-i-Millat`s body was lowered and the last rites were performed in the presence of two Central Ministers [Foreign Minister Syed SharifuddinPirzadaandMinisterofAgriculture and Worl(s A.H.M.S. Doha], the C-in-C, Navy, Rear Admiral S.M. Ahsan, Military Secretaries to the President and the Governors of West and East Pakistan, foreign diplomats, senior officials, political leaders and prominent citizens.

Af ter the burial amidst sobbing of the mourners and recitation of the verses from the Holy Quran, floral wreaths were placed on the grave as a token of love, admiration and reverence to the memory of the Madar-i-Millat.

First to place the wreath was the Military Secretary to the President on behalf of Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan. He was followed by Mr Doha who placed the wreath on behalf of the Central Government.

Floral wreaths were also placed on behalf of the two Provincial Governors, the three Defence Services, the National Shipping Corporation, and a number of social and political organisations.

The Central and the West Pakistan Provincial Government had declared Monday a closed holiday as a mark of national mourning. National flags flew at half mast. All Government offices, business houses, shops, schools and colleges and cinema houses remained closed. Newspapers published special supplements and Radio Pakistan broadcast special programmes on Monday.

Madar-i-Millat`s funeral procession started at 8.45 a.m. from her Clifton residence Qasr-iFatima. Since Sunday night streams of griefstricken men and women filed past the body to have a last glimpse of the departed lady, lying in eternal sleep. Correspondent