Faizabad traffic jam: Father of dead child withdraws case

Says he is doing so because the protesters had a ‘noble cause’; case officially open

ISLAMABAD: A man, whose infant son died last month because he could not reach the hospital in time after getting stuck in a traffic jam due to the Faizabad blockade, has announced that he was withdrawing his complaint against the protesters and their leaders.

On November 9, nine-month-old Hassan had fallen sick. His parents were taking him to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) but got stuck in a massive logjam on Islamabad Expressway near Koral due to blockades set up around the Faizabad interchange by Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) protesters.



The child’s family had initially taken him to a local doctor who referred him to Pims.  As the child’s condition worsened, the family decided to get off the Islamabad Expressway and seek medical care at a private hospital near the Khanna Pul.

But at around 10:20 pm, the child passed away at the medical facility. Doctors said that the infant had suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest, causing his death.

“My son died in front of me and his mother’s eyes … He died because of these cruel leaders of the sit-in …,” Muhammad Bilal, the child’s father, maintained in his application filed to the police later that night. Bilal said that Rizvi and his followers were responsible for his son’s death.

“Khadim Rizvi and his fellows are responsible for the death of my son. If the roads were not blocked, we would have reached the hospital in time and my son’s life could have been saved,” wrote the distraught father. Koral police subsequently registered an FIR against Rizvi and others for the ‘unintentional murder’ of the child.

But days after the protesters finally ended their blockade of Faizabad, the father has announced that he will not be pursuing the case against any further. Bilal said that he believes that the protesters were on a sacred and noble mission.

“At that time I did not even know the name of their leader. Later, they [sit-in organisers] contacted me and told me why they were staging the sit-in … I have forgiven them because they were there [at Faizabad] in the name of the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” Bilal told The Express Tribune, affirming that he was neither pressured nor was he promised anything in return for withdrawing his case.

He, however, did say that the sit-in organisers had invited him to join them at Faizabad interchange. But, Bilal said, he did not go there.

Police officer Muhammad Afzal, who is investigating the case, said that Bilal had yet to contact them to formally withdraw his complaint.

“If he appears before a magistrate and confirms that he does not wish to pursue the case, we will dispose of it,” he said.

Afzal added the police had arrested a dozen protesters and sent them to jail in the case.



The child’s death was the first of many cases registered by the police against the Faizabad protesters during their three-week-long sit-in.

Police had registered a total of 27 FIRs against the protesters.

While the government and the protest leaders had agreed to release all protesters and quash all criminal cases registered against them, some of the cases remain open.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2017.