By Irfan Mohammed
JEDDAH, Jan 8 – Twelve-year-old Komal Ahmed, the Pakistani girl suffering from eye cancer, died on Tuesday at the Saudi-German Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment in recent months.
Komal’s parents are now facing difficulty in burying their daughter due to the expiry of their iqamas.
Residency issues are preventing the parents from burying their daughter in Makkah.
Komal’s father, Manzur Ahmed, is a Makkah-based driver.
Komal’s case was brought into the spotlight by Arab News, which led to an outpouring of financial aid from philanthropists.
“Komal’s condition deteriorated on Sunday and she was shifted to the ICU, where she died on Tuesday,” Ahmed told Arab News.
“We wanted to transfer her to a hospital in Pakistan for treatment, but her condition did not allow it. We also don’t have a valid residency permit to leave the country,” he said.
“We want to bury her in Makkah, but are unable to process her papers because our iqamas have expired. We were told that without a valid iqama, we couldn’t get paperwork done necessary for transporting her body for burial. As a result, we may bury her in one of Jeddah’s graveyards.”
Komal’s father thanked Arab News and the Pakistani and Saudi communities for their support.–Arab News
