Elham Asaad Buaras
Earlier this month, thousands of mourners gathered in Bradford for the funeral of an 11-year-old boy who died after he was found hanging at his home by his mother, Farheen Khan. In a letter by Farheen Khan, which was shared on social media, she wrote: “Asad, my eldest child, my everything. He was my greatest strength and support.”
Family and community members gathered together on October 3 in memory of Asad Khan, who had recently started at Beckfoot Upper Heaton School. Many mourners wore a T-shirts bearing an anti-bullying message and ‘RIP little man Asad’.
Khan was found by his mother after she had to force her way through the locked door to his bedroom at their home in Tile Street, Whetley Hill, on September 28.
Mrs Khan wrote on Stop Bullying Asad Khan Official Page [face book] on what she felt like to lose a son because of bullying.
“To be told that your child was being bullied. The questions surrounding my mind are: What must he have gone through during his last hours? What happened to him that he took such a drastic step? The pain, the helplessness. Why would anybody bully him? He was harmless.”
“I request everyone to stand up against bullying, no child deserves to be mistreated. It is a serious issue and many are a victim of it.Today it is my child, tomorrow it could be one of yours”
“Asad, my eldest child, my everything. He was my greatest strength and support. It is when I am alone with his memories that I cry. I am no longer able to step into my own house, the room where it all took place.”
She also expresses her thanks to everyone who has supported her family over the past week.
An inquest which was opened a day after his funeral heard that the boy had been reluctant to attend his new school.
West Yorkshire Police is investigating the circumstances of his death amid allegations that he had suffered bullying.
His coffin had been taken to the Masjid Bilal Mosque, on Drummond Road, before being taken to an open area adjacent to Manningham Sports Centre.
Raising the coffin high into the air, the cortege then left for a burial at Scholemoor Cemetery.
Family friend Haliba Ali, 17, told Bradford Telegraph: “We wanted to show our support for Asad with the message that bullying has to stop.”
Muhammad Auzair Khan, a chaplain in Doncaster, said bullying was getting much worse and did not stop at 3pm when school finished.
“It continues with cyber crime and should be treated as a criminal offence,” he said.
The Coroner’s officer Simone Holmes told the inquest hearing Khan was “a fit, healthy, sociable and chatty boy.”
