Shots of joy: Cricket win costs child her life

Police confirmed the girl was killed by a stray bullet during the bout of aerial firing after Pakistan won the match

KARACHI: Eight-year-old Misbah was playing with her dolls inside her home. She cared little for the other game the grown-ups were so obsessed with. Cricket bored her. Her dolls were her world. Her instincts were right; cricket took her life in the end.

That fateful day, Pakistan won the match against Ireland. Misbah lost her life to the aerial shots fired by over-zealous fans over Pakistan's win against Ireland.

Misbah, a student of class II, lived in a small house at Nishter Basti, near Old Sabzi Mandi, within the limits of PIB Colony police station. "She was playing in the yard when suddenly she fell on the floor bleeding," said her father, Rasheed who is a labourer by profession.

The devastated father said a stray bullet killed his daughter.

"There was intense firing in the area. Before I could take her inside the room, the bullet had been hit and killed her."

The family immediately took her into the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital but she had breathed her last before they could reach the facility.  The family staged a demonstration to protest the incident. Not many people cared to join.

The police were informed about the incident. They confirmed the girl was killed by a stray bullet during the bout of aerial firing after Pakistan won the match. Sub-inspector Ishtiaq told The Express Tribune that the bullet hit the victim on the head, killing her on the spot.