Islamabad, May 13: The Pakistan government today averted a crisis by not allowing the body of 28-year-old Amir Cheema to be flown to Rawalpindi from Berlin.

Amir Cheema, 28, died in custody 10 days ago after being arrested in March on charges of attempting to kill the editor of Die Welt for reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad first published in Denmark last year.

Leading Islamic groups, including the Jamiat Al-Sunnat and the Opposition six-party Islamic alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), had planned big protests in Islamabad and Rawalpindi to coincide with the arrival of Cheema’s body today.

Yesterday, hundreds took to the streets in Islamabad to condemn Cheema’s death.

Fearing a backlash, the authorities sent Cheema’s body directly to Lahore instead of allowing it to be taken to Rawalpindi.

Local officials in Lahore arranged a helicopter to airlift the body to Cheema’s native village of Saroki near Wazirabad city.

According to Saroki residents, 15,000 people, including family members, relatives and Islamist activists, attended Cheema’s funeral. Mourners wept and shouted slogans against the government at the funeral.

However, no violent incidents were reported and the mourners were generally peaceful. Most of the mourners were critical of the Pakistan government’s apologetic attitude. They blamed the German police for Cheema’s death.

While Cheema’s father, Prof. Nazeer Cheema, claimed that the police killed his son, officials in Berlin insisted that Cheema hanged himself using his own clothes as a noose.

Cheema was a student of textile engineering in Germany.