Woman buried 12 years after her death in Karachi

KARACHI: A woman who died over twelve years but her body was kept in an apartment in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area has been laid to rest.

The funeral prayers for 65-year-old Zakia were offered on Saturday and she was buried at the Sakhi Hassan Graveyard. Her skeletal remains were found on Wednesday night from a garbage dump outside the AGP Office in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The body was shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and later an Edhi Centre morgue.

The police said that the woman died in 2008 and her body was kept in an apartment by her son Qaiser and daughter Shagufta instead of burying it.

The children lived with the body in the apartment for four years after which they shifted to a house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 4 in 2012. Her son used to visit the apartment regularly to pay the electricity and gas bills but has stopped coming in recent months.

Qaiser died following a heart attack on 14th October last year while Shagufta’s passed away on January 29 after her health worsened.

After their death, Zakia’s estranged brother, 70-year-old Mehboob Alam, went to clean the apartment where he discovered the body. He tried to dispose of the body but was caught on CCTV rolling the body in a carpet and telling his son to dump it outside the AGP’s office near NIPA chowrangi. 

The police have arrested him and are now investigating the case. Police said the children were mentally unstable and use to quarrel with their neighbours when asked about their mother.

Alam told media that he had not known that his sister had died, while his nephew and niece had not been in contact with the rest of the family for many years. He said that he found the body when he went to the apartment three days ago which he threw away in order to clean the house.

The general-secretary for the apartment complex said that Zakia was last seen in 2008. He said that several complaints were made about the stench emanating from the apartment but they were not allowed to enter.