Banned activity: Throat slit by kite string, four-year-old girl dies

Family refuse to lodge complaint with police, Saddar Berooni SHO suspended

RAWALPINDI: A four-year girl died in Rawalpindi on Sunday after her throat was slashed by a kite string.

According to police and eyewitnesses, four-year-old Umme Habiba was travelling with her father Muhammad Khalid on a motorbike. While passing through a graveyard in Chakri Town, a stray kite string slashed her throat.

She was rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) where she died due to excessive bleeding.

Muhammad Mukhtar, a neighbour of the girl in the Pir Mehar Ali Shah locality in Chakri Town, told The Express Tribune that around three to four boys, aged eight to 10 years, were flying kites in the graveyard when Habiba’s throat was slashed

Habiba’s family, meanwhile, refused to speak to the media or to lodge a case against the kite flyers.

While confirming the incident, Sub Inspector Nasir Abbas of the Saddar Berooni police said that the family had refused to file a written complaint of the incident against the kite flyers.

Later, Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Hasan Ranjha also visited Habiba’s family to offer his condolences and to convince the girl’s father to file a complaint. However, Khalid refused to lodge a complaint with the assistant commissioner as well.

Habiba’s funeral prayers were offered later on Sunday evening and she was buried in a nearby graveyard.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2017.