Pakistan

Roadblock leads to death of army officer

Due to the dark of the night, both of them fell from the edge of the road in a ditch along the Motorway near Hazro

Our Correspondent October 30, 2016

Policemen stand at the roadblock on the motorway in Swabi. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: A senior officer of the Pakistan Army was killed and another critically wounded after falling into a roadside ditch while leading a military convoy from Rawalpindi to Nowshera.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is virtually cut off from the rest of the country as authorities have blocked all major roads, including the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway, by placing shipping containers and concrete blocks.

Bani Gala ‘under siege’ after crackdown on PTI

The blockade is meant to stop PTI supporters from travelling to the federal capital which the party plans to lock down on Nov 2.

“Lieutenant Colonel Shahid embraced martyrdom while trying to find an alternate route for the military convoy he was part of,” the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement. Another army officer, Major Jalal, was seriously wounded in the same incident, it added.

Circa November 2, 2016

Lt Col Shahid and Maj Jalal were going back to Nowshera from Rawalpindi in a military convoy on Saturday evening. At around 8pm, the convoy found itself stuck on the Motorway as all routes leading to K-P from Islamabad were blocked with containers.

In a bid to find a different route, the two officers got down from their vehicles and went to explore a different route on foot, according to the ISPR.

Due to the dark of the night, both of them fell from the edge of the road in a ditch along the Motorway near Hazro.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2016.

COMMENTS (1)

Ch. Allah Daad | 8 years ago | Reply We all pray for the deceased and injured officer but we all must understand seriousness of the situation. Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan, the only nuclear state of the Islamic world. It cannot be left to the mercy of anarchists, terrorists and dark forces. If General Raheel and army had been in power, they would have done exactly the same to save Pakistan's capital from terrorists and anarchists. If army is the De facto ruler of Pakistan, then why it did not say no to roadblocks. It knows what could happen on Nov. 2. Terrorists can create havoc in country's capital and lawlessness and chaos is what they and every enemy of Pakistan want.

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