A pall of gloom descended on Salaheen Colony in Nawab Sahab Kunta area of the Old City in Hyderabad after the news of the death of Lance Naik Mohammad Firoz Khan broke out. Local residents made a beeline to the house of the Army man, who was killed in LoC firing by Pakistani troops in Balakote sector of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
Firoz, who was serving in the Madras Regiment for the last 15 years, is survived by wife and three children.
“He celebrated Ramzan with us and left promising to return soon. But see what has happened a day before Id,” his brother Mohammad Allauddin Khan, sobbed.
On Saturday last, Firoz spoke to his family and expressed his inability to come for Bakrid. “He promised his children that he would come in January and also asked his wife to get new clothes for the children for Id,” said Shaik Moinuddin, Firoz’s father-in- law. Unmindful of the tragedy that struck the family, the children were busy playing around holding a trophy that was awarded to their father. “Should we see it as an Id gift to India from Pakistan,” laments his brother-in-law Shaik Ayaazuddin. The body is expected to arrive by evening and the last rites will be performed on Thursday.
MBT condemns killing
Meanwhile, the Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) on Wednesday condemned the killing of Mohammad Firoz Khan by Pakistani troops in Poonch. In a joint statement, Khayam Khan, president Majlis Bachao Tehreek and Amjed Ullah Khan, Azampura corporator sought Rs. 25 lakh as ex gratia from both the State and Central governments, 15 acres of agriculture land to his family and a government job for his family member.
