Bacha Khan University attack: Frantic relatives gather at hospital looking for loved ones

CHARSADDA/PESHAWAR:

Hospitals in K-P seem to be perpetually on high alert. Physically equipped for emergencies, District Headquarters Hospital Charsadda on Wednesday was not prepared for the heartbreak and chaos which exploded in its corridors after the attack on Bacha Khan University.

Family members on tenterhooks could be seen outside and inside DHQ Hospital Charsadda, looking for their loved ones. By the end of the day, the facility received at least 20 of the deceased and at least 24 of the injured.

With the media, security forces and frantic families, the hospital was witnessing a commotion it probably has not seen in decades. Even officials such as the DHO could be seen, calling someone to have their children picked safely from school.

Bacha Khan University staff member Jan Alam could be seen sobbing; some of his students had been killed. “Most students attending the political science class came under fire,” Alam said.

Others say it was an attack on the gathering to commemorate Bacha Khan’s 28th death anniversary – an irony which cannot be escaped given his status as a national peace icon.  A student at the hospital said terrorists chose the day and university with much thought as the varsity is named after a believer in non-violence and education. “But our spirits are undefeated,” he added.

Every drop of blood

Students were there to not only donate blood but also to volunteer to help hospital staff, tending to the injured being brought to the facility.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairperson Imran khan, federal and provincial ministers, visited the hospital and offered condolence to those who were wounded and those who lost their loved ones in the attack. Al-Khidmat Foundation was providing coffins for the dead.

LRH steels itself once again

With the second consecutive attack in the region, the first one being in Jamrud, Khyber Agency on Tuesday, Lady Reading Hospital management was in its default mode – of an emergency. Injured people from Charsadda were transported to the main tertiary hospital in Peshawar.

Syed Hamid Shah, who accompanied a critically wounded student in the ambulance, told The Express Tribune they heard gunshots and blasts inside the campus. Seeing the chaos unfold, Shah took part in rescue efforts and helped the rescue workers at the scene.

Another student, Riaz, from Bajaur Agency, had come to LRH to see his wounded friends. He was on site at the time of the attack and recalled seeing four men, three of whom had AK-47s and were firing indiscriminately at the boys hostel where he also stayed.

“I went outside my room and saw one of the militants kicking in a door. They had guns and were firing. I left my room barefooted and ran outside the university premises,” said Riaz. “My friends and I took shelter in a nearby ghani (a place where jaggary or gur is produced).”

Four people, including an assistant librarian, police constable Khizar Hayat and two students Ayaz and Samiullah were shifted to LRH where Hayat and Ayaz had been shifted to ICU. They were stated to be in critical condition until the filing of this report.

Hospital security, police personnel and armed forces were also deployed at the facility since threat alerts were issued for a possible militant attack at the hospital as well. Media converge was also banned inside the emergency block.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2016.