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Areeb buried; brother still fighting for his life

SHARJAH — Areeb, the three-year-old Pakistani boy who died under tragic circumstances on Monday when his mother threw him down from their eighth floor apartment that was on fire, was buried in the Al Ghubaiba cemetery yesterday afternoon.

Areeb’s younger brother, two-year-old Harris, is still fighting for his life in Al Qasimi Hospital.

“I told my wife not to cry for him, but to see him off as we had received him — with joy,” said the father, Javed Iftekhar, trying desperately to hold back his tears. “Please pray for our younger son because he is our only hope,” he added.

Javed said they couldn’t take his son’s body to Pakistan as Harris was in a critical condition. “We cannot leave him here and take Areeb for burial. It is a tough decision, but it had to be taken,” he said.

He added that a panel of doctors is attending to Harris. “We have been told that he is still breathing with the help of a ventilator and unless he starts breathing on his own, they cannot start proper treatment,” said the father. “The next 12 hours are still critical.”.

The mother, Zebunissa, panicked when the fire broke out and threw her two children from the window of her apartment in a bid to save them.