MORTAL REMAINS of Hamir Hamza, a Pakistani national who had died in June this year while being held in a detention centre in Bhuj after being held for allegedly crossing over to the Indian side of the Indo-Pakistan border in Kutch in 2017, was handed over to Pakistan authorities on Wednesday, police said. The repatriation of Hamir’s body comes around two weeks after another man who was believed to be a Pakistani national and was held in Bhuj was buried in Jamnagar on August 27 after his nationality could not be ascertained even after his death in January this year. Hamir, who was in his 50s, had succumbed to an illness on June 13 this year while being treated at GK General Hospital in Bhuj, the district headquarters of Kutch. His body was taken to Guru Gobind Singh Government General Hospital (GG hospital) in Jamnagar for a forensic post-mortem. But as the morgue in the GG hospital was full, Hamir’s body was brought back to Bhuj and was kept in GK General Hospital, police officers said. “After his nationality was verified, Hamir’s mortal remains were handed over to Pakistan authorities on September 15 at Wagah border in Punjab,” an officer of Kutch (west) police told The Indian Express. Police said that Hamir was detained by the Border Security Force after he allegedly crossed over to the Indian side of the Indo-Pakistan border in 2017.
