July 24, 2007 - Kabul
Associated Press of Pakistan - APP
http://www.app.com.pk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13339&Itemid=2

Prince Karim Aga Khan attends King Zahir Shah’s funeral

KABUL, July 24 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, accompanied by a delegation including three ministers, attended the funeral of King Zahir Shah who was laid to rest at the ancestral graveyard here Tuesday. The Prime Minister was received at the Kabul Airport by Minister for Higher Education Muhammad Azam Dadfur and Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Sardar Tariq Azizuddin. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani and Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao. An Afghan army contingent presented salute to Prime Minister Aziz on arrival.

Soon after his arrival, the Prime Minister went to the Presidential Palace to pay homage to the late king.

Pakistan was the only country that was represented at the funeral ceremony at the level of the head of government, signifying the traditional brotherly relations between the two countries.

The body of King Zahir Shah, known as father of the nation, lay in state at presidential palace enabling the delegations to pay last respects.

Later the coffin, which was placed at a gun carrier, was taken to the Eidgah and Prime Minister Aziz joined thousands of mourners and walked around a kilometer from the Presidential Palace to offer the funeral prayers.

The funeral was attended by thousands of people including notable Afghan leaders Burhanuddin Rabbani, Abdurrab Rasool Sayyaf, Marshal Abdul Wali and others.

The body was later taken to the ancestral graveyard Tapa-e-Maranjan for burial beside the grave of his father late King Nadir Shah.

Delegations from 20 countries arrived here to pay homage to the late king, including Prince Karim Aga Khan, British Foreign Secretary and Indian Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz.

The Prime Minister also had a meeting with President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan leaders and conveyed the deep sorrow and grief over the death of late Zahir Shah on behalf of President Pervez Musharraf, the government and people Pakistan.

He said the people of Pakistan will remember King Zahir Shah who led the nation with wisdom in difficult times, spanning over four decades.

The Prime Minister said the entire Pakistani nation is grieved over the sad demise of King Zahir Shah and they share the grief of Afghan people.

President Karzai appreciated the sentiments expressed by the Prime Minister.

He said the Afghan people appreciate that the Prime Minister of Pakistan came to Afghanistan along with a high level delegation to attend the funeral ceremony.

King Zahir Shah enjoyed high respect among the people of Pakistan for standing by Pakistan during the 1965 and 1971 wars.

The two countries, bound by deep-rooted links between their peoples, have been maintaining excellent relations, transcending occasional irritants in the turbulent history of the region.

It may be recalled that President Pervez Musharraf during his visit to Kabul in 2002 had a meeting with King Zahir Shah that reflected their mutual rapport.

The people in Afghanistan and Central Asian states remember King Zahir Shah as a symbol of national unity. His era of kingship in Afghanistan is also recalled as a period of peace and tranquillity.

Zahir Shah died at the age of 92 in Kabul. He reigned for four decades before being deposed in 1973. Shah returned to the war-battered homeland in 2002 as an ordinary citizen after a long exile.