By Tanveer Ahmed

Gilgit (TP) June 8: Lt-Col Rashid Karim Baig, who embraced martyrdom in an improvised explosive device blast in North Waziristan on Friday night, was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Hyderabad Hunza with full military honour.

The funeral prayers were offered in Gilgit and  Hunza. In Gilgit, the funeral prayer was attended, among others, by GB Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeez-ur-Rehman, Director-General Technical and Evaluation GHQ Lt-Gen Sher Afghan, GB Chief Secretary Khurram Agha, Inspector General of Police Sanaullah Abbasi, Staff  Colonel Force Command Northern Areas Col  Habib Ullah, the martyred’s brother Col Hamid Karim Baig and a large number of senior civil and military officers, soldiers and others.

Later, the body of Lt-Col Karim was flown from Gilgit to his native village Hyderabad Hunza in a helicopter, where a separate funeral prayer was also held. A large number of people and local politicians and relatives of the martyred attended the funeral prayer.

Lt-Col Rashid Karim Baig leaves behind his 80 years old mother, wife and a one-year-old daughter among the mourners.

His father Col (retd) Masood Baig known as Colonel Masti Baig had also been martyred in Siachen years ago. His brother is also serving in the Pakistan army as a colonel.