Three more Pakistanis — a son and his parents — were confirmed to have died in the March 15 New Zealand terrorist attacks on two mosques, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said on Sunday, taking the total death toll of Pakistanis in the incident up to nine.
Mr Zeeshan Raza, his father Mr Ghulam Hussain and mother Ms. Karam bibi have now been confirmed to have embraced shahadat in the terrroist attack in #NewZealand. We are in touch with their family. A total of 9 Pakistanis embraced shahadat in #NewZealandTerrorAttack
— Dr Mohammad Faisal (@DrMFaisal) March 17, 2019
In a post shared on Twitter, Dr Faisal said the deaths of Zeeshan Raza, his father Ghulam Hussain and mother Karam Bibi had been confirmed and that the FO was in touch with their family.
Also on Sunday, New Zealand police announced the death toll from the racist attacks had risen to 50 as anguished relatives awaited authorities to release the remains of those who were killed in the massacres.
Prime Minister Imran Khan extended “all our support to the families of Pakistani victims of the terrorist attack in Christchurch”.
He added that the country was proud of Naeem Rashid, one of the victims, who the premier said would be recognised for his courage with a national award.
“Pakistan is proud of Mian Naeem Rashid who was martyred trying to tackle the White Supremacist terrorist and his courage will be recognised with a national award,” said Prime Minister Khan.
Rashid was identified by a relative from the video live-streamed by the attacker. It appeared from the video that he had attempted to stop the assailant as he gunned victims down in the mosque.
Earlier on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a press release, had confirmed the deaths of six victims as follows:
- Sohail Shahid
- Syed Jahandad Ali (Lahore)
- Syed Areeb Ahmed (Karachi)
- Mahboob Haroon (Islamabad)
- Naeem Rashid (Abbotabad)
- Talha Naeem (Abbotabad)
They had noted that three Pakistanis were missing.
Dr Faisal, in a Twitter post, had said that Rashid and his son would be buried in Christchurch for which arrangements had been made with the assistance of Muslim and Pakistani associations in the city.
He said that the Pakistani Mission in the city was working with the families of the other four victims, confirmed at the time, for the transportation of their bodies back to Pakistan.
Earlier in the day, the FO spokesperson had released a list of Pakistanis that were considered ‘missing’.
