A man tries to find space to wheel an injured man through a crowded corridor of the emergency department at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi January 1 ,2013. PHOTO: REUTERS
A bomb ripped through a caravan of around seven buses near Ayesha Manzil that was due to carry participants back from the rally towards Orangi Town area. Four people were killed and at least 42 others were injured.
The dead and injured were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, one after another amid wailing sirens of ambulances that approached the hospital after intermittent intervals. There appeared no respite from the screeching sound of stretchers as injured soaked in blood were wheeled in for trauma.
“I was peeking through the window… there were commuters and passersby that occasionally showed us a victory sign and suddenly a deafening bang mingled everything,” said Farzana Ghaus with her trembling lips. She was one among the persons aboard and told The Express Tribune that her bus was right behind the two buses that felt the maximum impact of the blast. “I don’t exactly remember what happened next, all I could hear were screams and all I could see were clouds of smoke.”
Another rally participant, Nadeem Ahmed, said that he was atop one of the buses’ rooftop and calling out to his friends to join him when suddenly the bomb went off. “As the blast shook the bus, I jumped off,” said Ahmed. “I can’t hear from my left ear since then, please tell me about my friends.”
He kept asking about his friends from the gathered crowd, but no one could give him a definite answer.
The emergency room
As soon as the news of the incident broke, the MQM activists started to flood the hospital, a few of them raged up enough to incite the quantum of panic. Within an hour their number reached in hundreds, amassed outside and even inside hospital’s emergency, literally choking up the space for medial operations.
The MQM’s Rabita Committee members later arrived at the hospital and helped control the degree of chaos and panic of its workers. While ordering to vacate the hospital premises, the activists formed chains of hands to cordon off the area so that the doctors and paramedics could work with ease.
Lives lost
A 27-year-old generator mechanic, Rehanullah Khan, son of Hameedullah Khan, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Khan was unmarried and a resident of Surjani Town.
Thirty-year-old Tayyab, son of Bilal Ahmed also succumbed to his injuries after he was brought to the hospital. Tayyab, second among seven siblings, worked in a private factory as a labourer and he was a resident of Orangi Town sector 11.5.
Talib Hussain son of Ghaus Bux, 20, and Hashim son of Muhammad Safeeq were the two others who lost their lives in the attack. Hussain, who hailed from Larkana, used to work at a hotel. He was a resident of Ranchore Lines.
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This is very painful and very tragic indeed. Karachi that is home to all citizens of Pakistan has been turned into a war zone by unscrupulous elements in the preceding and successive governments. The Muttaheda welcomes all people who work for the citizens and are educated or seek education. This was uncalled for and only killed innocent workers and attendants to the meeting. Now extra precautions will be taken to ensure peaceful gatherings.
The only thing that comes to mind is the inability of previous governments to govern the country along Islamic lines due to the numerous religious and sectarian parties and the differences in their manifestos.
What has been done in previous years cannot be undone and now we have to come to our senses and take Pakistan ahead and get rid of the trouble makers who consider themselves insular. Salams