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MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — They came for closure, but were hours too late.
Friends and teachers of Aqsa Parvez arrived at the Islamic Centre of Canada in Mississauga earlier today for the slain 16-year-old's funeral and were shaken when they discovered the funeral had already taken place, hours before the time that had been publicized.
Ms. Parvez, a popular Applewood Heights Secondary School student, died Monday evening from what police say was “neck compression.” Her father, Muhammad Parvez, has been charged with murder.
Public notices claimed the funeral would take place at the Islamic Centre Saturday at 1:30 p.m., but when mourners arrived at the Mississauga mosque, they discovered a half-empty parking lot and news that Ms. Parvez had already been buried at Meadowvale Cemetery.
“The service has already been done. It was held somewhere in the GTA. It was the wishes of the family,” said M.J. Khalid, a spokesperson for the Islamic Centre of Canada.
After being turned away at the Islamic Centre, some who still sought closure on Ms. Parvez's death travelled to the Mississauga Central Library, where the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations and other organizations planned an outdoor vigil to honour the girl's memory.
Maryam Dadabhoy, a spokesperson for the council, said she encountered many friends and teachers who were both upset and angry.
“They just tend to see the family as the perpetrator,” said Ms. Dadabhoy. “They said, ‘We were her friends, we were the ones who cared for her, why did [her family] do this?”
Ms. Dadabhoy said she didn't want to speculate as to whether the family had purposely misled the public about Ms. Parvez's funeral or if a last-minute change had occurred for another reason.
“I don't think they would deliberately mislead everybody. They just thought it might be better if they took care of it earlier,” she said.
A bookstore employee at the Islamic Centre suggested otherwise.
“The funeral isn't happening here,” he said at noon, an hour and a half before the funeral had been set to begin. “This was all just set up as a decoy for the media.”
Theresa Lee, a classmate of Ms. Parvez's, also said the funeral plans had changed because of the family's desire to avoid media attention.
“What else do you want?” shouted a teary-eyed Ms. Lee at the throng of reporters and photographers gathered outside the centre's entrance. “Her family moved this funeral because of you. Just get out of the mosque.”
The funeral had first been scheduled for Thursday afternoon, but media and mourners were told Ms. Parvez's body was not ready for burial and the ceremony would instead take place this afternoon.
While the vigil was planned to remember Ms. Parvez, organizers said it was also meant to bring attention to domestic abuse.
Because friends and classmates of Ms. Parvez have said the girl had sparred with her father over her reluctance to wear a hijab – a Muslim head scarf – her death has ignited international debates over pluralism and the interpretation of Islam.
“We're not here to talk about religion or culture – it has nothing to do with it – we're just here based on the fact that she lost her life and we just want to work towards stopping this from happening in the future,” said Ms. Dadabhoy.
Farheen Khan, president of the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals, said the Muslim community must start publicly acknowledging domestic abuse to prevent incidents such as Ms. Parvez's death in the future.
“There's a certain stigma attached to reaching out, so it's really just trying to build that awareness that there are services – that this doesn't have to be the way it has to end,” she said.
The group is planning a public forum in early January to discuss social services for the Muslim community, said Ms. Khan.
With a report from the Canadian Press
