Nowshera shrine blast: Of maimed victims who live to tell the tale

When Fazal Nabi regained consciousness, he found he had lost one of his hands and hearing in one ear.

PESHAWAR:

Aside from the grief that haunts the families and friends of those killed in terrorist attacks, a harrowing life awaits those who live to tell the tale.

When Fazal Nabi, a victim of the recent blast at Kaka Sahib Shrine in Nowshera, regained consciousness at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) on Wednesday, he found he had lost one of his hands and hearing in one of his ears.

The 24-year-old, who worked at a bakery with this brother and has a two-year-old son, said it will be difficult for him now to make ends meet.

Nabi, a resident of Dir Colony, had gone to the shrine with four of his friends, of whom one was killed in the explosion and three others wounded. “The blast ripped through the shrine and the entire area was engulfed in smoke,” Nabi recalls. “I don’t know what happened after that. I don’t even know who brought me here,” he added.

His elder brother, Yar Khan, curses himself for giving Nabi money to visit the shrine. “Initially I refused to give him money, but Nabi and his friends were very excited about going to the shrine and had started preparing for their visit a day earlier. So I gave in when he insisted,” he lamented. He grieved over the death of Khalid Khan, one of Nabi’s friends who died in the explosion.

Another injured, Farhad Khan of Potwar Bala area of Peshawar, said a large number of people including women and children were busy praying when the explosion occurred. “I saw bodies lying on the ground badly wounded,” said Farhad. He said locals rushed in to pull out the injured and shifted them to nearby hospitals in their vehicles.

A remote-controlled explosion on the second day of Eidul Azha left four people dead and 24 others injured. Most of the wounded were taken to the nearest District Headquarter Hospital, while the ones critically injured were taken to the LRH in Peshawar. Two Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan activists have been accused of carrying out the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2012.