Victim of bomb blast: Father of teenage boy who lost his voice asks army for aid

Says treatment can only be undertaken abroad, son tries to commit suicide

PESHAWAR: A teenage boy identified as Salman Raza ruptured his trachea and lost his voice in a bomb blast in June.

Addressing a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, Muhammad Raza, father of the 17-year-old, said they have spent around Rs1 million for Salman’s treatment but he was still unable to speak properly. He said doctors stated his treatment cannot be completed in Pakistan due to lack of facilities.

Muhammad Raza asked the Pakistan Army to help his son because he was a victim of a terrorist activity. He said he had asked the provincial government for assistance several times but to no avail.

He had also travelled to Islamabad, along with his son, to attend Imran Khan’s rallies in 2014. “Imran Khan had promised to help me and admitted Salman to Shifa International Hospital Islamabad but never contacted him after,” Muhammad Raza said. He added his son was later discharged from the hospital because his treatment could only be undertaken abroad.

Salman, a resident of Badabher, became victim of a bomb blast that was targeted at a convoy of Frontier Corps (FC) on June 30, 2013.

The boy, then a student of class eight, was admitted at Lady Reading Hospital for two months where he went through several surgeries. However, he could not breathe without a tracheotomy tube which was put in his throat during a surgical operation.

At the press conference, Muhammad Raza said his son also tried to commit suicide using kerosene oil since he felt he had become a burden on his family.

“He wants to speak but a hole in his throat has turned him speechless,” Muhammad Raza said.

At least thousands of people have been killed and millions have been injured in acts of militancy in the region in the last decade.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2016.