Quite a sad story:
A humanitarian issue that concerns the dead
Rahimullah Yusufzai
http://peshawar1.com/htmls/rahimullah/rahim99.html
Ghaniur Rahman’s family in Pakistan was lucky that his body was sent home 33 days after his death in Saudi Arabia. Others have to wait longer to receive the remains of their near and dear ones for burial.
The body of Ghaniur Rahman, who was affectionately called Gulab, finally reached Pakistan on Wednesday. Some members of his family were present at the Peshawar international airport to receive his remains. It was a touching scene as the deceased’s uncle and father-in-law, Raz Gul, and brothers wept openly on seeing his body. Gulab, as his name suggests, was fair and handsome but his body had turned black after being kept for more than a month in a mortuary in the Malik Al Faisal Hospital in the Saudi city of Taif.
A number of Pakistanis die every week in Saudi Arabia. Some die natural deaths, others in accidents. A few have their heads blown off publicly by sword for trafficking drugs or for committing murder. Dying is perhaps the easy part in the royal kingdom. A long process is set in motion as relatives, friends or fellow employees start making efforts to retrieve the body and send it home. It is a costly and time-consuming exercise for the migrant workers who need to work everyday to keep their jobs and make both ends meet. Bureaucratic red-tape and legal complexities mean that it could take weeks and months before the Saudi authorities release the body from the hospital mortuaries and allow it to be sent to Pakistan.
It is not only Pakistanis who are made to suffer. It seems migrant workers from poor countries face more problems than those belonging to Western states because governments in the developed world are mindful of the needs of their nationals. In the case of Ghaniur Rahman alias Gulab, an Indian and a Bangladeshi had died along with him in the road accident near Taif. The three bodies were shifted to the mortuary of the Malik Al Faisal Hospital, Taif until clearance was obtained to hand them over to their next of kin or a friend. The unusual delay in seeking clearance prompted the family of the deceased Indian national to request his burial in Saudi Arabia. Gulab’s family was adamant that he be buried in his village, Ghundo Shamozai, in Mardan district. It took 33 long days to bring his remains home, that too after the intervention of a senior Pakistan Army officer.
If one were to go by Islamic teachings, the dead should be buried as soon as possible. The delay is painful for all concerned. It was an agonizing wait for Gulab’s family as people thronged his home to offer condolences and his wife and children, along with others, tried to cope with the tragedy. One fails to understand as to why the Saudi government cannot facilitate the quick delivery of the remains of those who die on its soil. Migrant workers also die in other Gulf states but their bodies are sent home for burial in Pakistan within days. One cannot imagine that the Saudi royal family is unaware of this humanitarian issue. It is earning ill-will for the Saudi rulers and the sooner the problem is solved the better it would be for their image.
For personal experience, one knows about the cases of two fellow villagers whose bodies were sent to Pakistan after more than five months. Mir Hassan and Karim Ghulam, again from Shamozai village in Mardan, had died young in Saudi Arabia in road accidents several years ago. One had hoped that the system would have been streamlined by now and the bodies would be released quickly now. But Gulab’s case has shown that there hasn’t been much improvement in handing delivery of the remains of the dead in Saudi Arabia. But for the help of the Pakistani army general, Gulab’s remains would still be lying in the mortuary in Taif.
The Pakistan government should take up the matter with the Saudis because it concerns a large number of people. Besides the dead, their families and acquaintances also suffer as long as the bodies aren’t released from the mortuaries and sent home. An argument could be made as to why don’t the heirs of the deceased bury their dead in Saudi Arabia, where Islam’s holiest places Makkah and Madina are located. However, it is the family’s choice and in any case the migrants have formed organizations that pay for the body to be flown home. More importantly, the issue begs attention of both the Saudi and Pakistani governments because both have a responsibility to the migrant workers who through their hard work have helped put Saudi Arabia on the path of progress and earned so much foreign exchange for Pakistan.