Browse Sections

• Education
• Business
• Blog
• Special reports

Body agony over

Steve Hammond
1/ 3/2003

ASIAN families in three towns are to be spared the agony of being unable to bury a dead loved one quickly.

After discussions with councillors and community leaders, the coroner for Bury, Oldham and Rochdale has agreed to hold weekend hearings.

This will enable relatives of people who die on Friday, Saturday or Sunday to obtain the necessary documentation to get them on flights to Pakistan, Bangladesh or India as soon as possible.

Under the old system because the coroner did not sit at weekends bodies often 'missed' flights to the Indian sub-continent and had to be kept for over a week before they could be 'flown home' for burial.

Said Rochdale councillor Zulfiqar Ali: "The coroner has agreed that he could sit any time between 10am and 4pm on Sunday. This will enable him to issue documentation for allowing the body out of the country and it means, for example, relatives can get their loved one on the Monday flight to Pakistan.

"Equally Bangladeshi and Indian families can get their loved ones on the earliest available flight. We are very pleased with the outcome of our dicussions. It follows the decision by Rochdale council to allow us to bury Muslims at the weekend."

Many UK Asian citizens still prefer to bury relatives 'back home' especially if a significant section of their families still live there. Asians who have most or all of their relatives in the UK often opt for local burials.

Individuals seeking a weekend hearing should first contact one of three mosque representatives. They are Mohammed Iqbal of the Golden Mosque, Spotland, Rochdale; Khalid Mahmood of the Al Qaba Mosque, Ramsey Street, Rochdale and Mohammed Sharif of the William Street Mosque, Rochdale.