Fatal negligence in Shabqadar?: Locals nominated in FIR for protesting against hospital

Protesters say lack of health facilities caused more deaths after Monday’s blast

SHABQADAR/ PESHAWAR:

The FIR registered in the aftermath of Monday’s blast which took 17 lives by the counter-terrorism department (CTD) was not the only one. A second FIR was registered against locals who protested after the blast against what they said was a woefully resourced tehsil hospital. These people, who had witnessed the carnage and the response after the fact first-hand, said lives were lost transporting critically-wounded victims to Peshawar.

Health promises on question

The protest took place during Minister for Health Shahram Tarakai’s visit on Monday. Tarakai was manhandled by a charged crowd who criticised the out-of-order equipment and lack of resources at Shabqadar hospital.





The hospital has seen more protests in recent weeks as elders complained on similar lines. Shahid Khan, who was one of the four accused in the FIR, claimed there was no electricity at the hospital and it had been closed down a week ago because of the lack of facilities.

The protesters alleged the injured rushed to Lady Reading Hospital died en route to Peshawar after the tehsil hospital was incapable to treat them. Police officials said the FIR was registered by the authorities at the hospital, who said the protesters caused damage to the property.

At LRH on Monday, Tarakai told The Express Tribune doctors used to refuse jobs at periphery hospitals. But, he said, the government announced attractive packages and doctors had started working outside the big cities.



The FIR against the attack was registered by CTD Mardan by Shabqadar SHO Ali Jan Khan against an unidentified suicide attacker. Intelligence agencies and police conducted a targeted operation around blast site on Tuesday. Security at all exit and entrance points of the district was on high alert.

Compensation demanded

In a meeting held at Shabqadar court, Shabqadar Bar Association (SBA) members demanded a judicial enquiry of the incident. SBA President Mian Sher Qadir Shah demanded a package for the deceased that should include compensation for the injured and the families of the deceased. They demanded a week’s mourning, in which all court activities will remain suspended. He cited previous concerns and demanded the courts be shifted to a safer location. The courts’ premises were visited by members of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Bar Association and Peshawar and Charsadda bar associations, as a token of respect.

Trace evidence

Fingerprints of the suicide bomber were being processed, IGP Nasir Durrani said after visiting the injured at LRH on Tuesday.

He paid tribute to the policeman who managed to stop the bomber from entering the premises of the court. “Had he [the bomber] managed to go inside or stepped outside the gate, there would have been more damage.”

He added the Frontier Constabulary (FC) was meant to be deployed in the buffer zones—Shabqadar is located between Mohmand Agency and Peshawar—since their role was to keep an eye on movement from tribal areas into the settled parts.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2016.