Another Shabqadar blast victim dies

Fazal could not live to see son getting married in March

SHABQADAR: Another victim of the Shabqadar blast on March 7 breathed his last at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in the city on Monday. Fazal Samad Khan, 45, worked as an assistant for Yusuf Ali, a lawyer. Both Ali and Fazal were injured in the attack at Shabqadar courts that left 16 dead on the day of the attack. Two others succumbed to their wounds on a later date.

Plans undone

A relative of Fazal told The Express Tribune Fazal’s son was a labourer in Saudi Arabia and was getting married in March. Though he did come to Pakistan, it was not for a happy occasion. “Fazal could not live long enough to see his son’s marriage, the first big cause of celebration in his son’s life,” the relative told The Express Tribune. Fazal was laid to rest on Monday.

Holding on for dear life

Ali, along with his sons, Shah Jalal and Shadab Khan, is admitted in LRH and are said to be in critical condition. However, his daughter Haya, who was with the four at the time of the attack, was discharged from LRH after treatment. She had gone with her father, her brothers and Fazal to the Shabqadar courts as the five had planned to go to the market afterwards for an event at school. “My father was going to buy clothes and shoes for me and my brothers. But we ended up in a hospital instead,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2016.