Boy set on fire dies before identifying culprits

Abdul Qayoom was attacked on Wednesday in Naushero Feroz

SUKKUR/ KARACHI: A ninth grade student, Abdul Qayoom, also known as Din Muhammad Panhwar, who was set on fire by unidentified men on Monday, succumbed to his injuries at the burns ward of Civil Hospital, Karachi on Wednesday morning before he could identify the culprits behind his attack.

His father, Abdul Karim Panhwar, told The Express Tribune that his son took his last breath at around 11am on Wednesday at the burns ward of Civil hospital. The family left for Naushero Feroz the same day, taking the body back to their native Mitha Khan Panhwar village near Tharushah, said the father. According to him, the boy was not able to talk and therefore could not name the culprits behind the crime. "I am confident that [the culprits] will not be able to get away with this," he said.

On Monday morning, Abdul Qayoom was sitting at his father's shop near the railway track in Mitha Khan Panhwar village when two masked men on a motorcycle raided the shop, caught hold of the boy, doused him in petrol and fled after setting him on fire. The boy was rushed to the hospital in Tharushah by nearby residents but the doctors told Abdul Karim to take his son to Hyderabad for treatment. The boy was taken to Hyderabad, where he was given first aid and then referred to Karachi, where he died. The doctors had said that the boy received burns on 80% of his body and his chances of survival were only 25%.

Abdul Karim runs a small grocery shop where he also sold petrol. He said that on Sunday his son had argued with the nephews of a policeman serving in Sujawal district. According to him, the boys threatened his son and the next day Abdul Qayoom was set on fire. However, the boy died without naming his attackers.

A unit chief at Civil Hospital, Karachi's Burns Centre, Dr Ahmer Ibran confirmed the death. He said the child had third degree burns on nearly 80% of his body. In such cases the chances of survival are very low, he said.

He said the boy was not very healthy and succumbed to his wounds two days after the incident occurred.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2017.