Families mourn as blast victims laid to rest

Doctors fear death toll of suicide blast victims may increase


Our Correspondent March 16, 2018
Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif attends the funeral prayers of the martyred police personnel. PHOTO: PPI

LAHORE: “One can only imagine how difficult it is to receive a call about the death of a beloved brother asking you to receive the body from a hospital,” said Shahid Hanif, the younger brother of Asif Javed, one of the victims of the suicide blast at Raiwind Road.

“On Wednesday night, I was busy in some domestic chores, when I received a phone call from Jinnah Hospital that Javed was killed and his body was brought to a hospital.”

Javed, a father of four, used to live in Faisalabad and worked as a labourer. On Tuesday, he left Faisalabad to attend a religious congregation at Raiwind. He was the sole breadwinner of the family and eldest among his two brothers.

The body of Asif Javed was buried at a local graveyard after performing his funeral rites. “Where are the rulers who claimed that terrorism has been eliminated from the country? This menace of terrorism has claimed over 50,000 lives in the last 10 years,” Hanif said with tears rolling down his cheeks.

“These are not just 50,000 people, they were 50,000 families that have been destroyed at the hands of terrorism.”

Victims at hospital

As the death toll surged to 10 after another police constable succumbed to his injuries at Lahore General Hospital on Thursday, the doctors and paramedics fear the death toll may increase.

According to the hospitals’ sources, 30 injured were admitted and five of them were in critical condition. The hospital sources said that 15 injured were admitted in LGH, eight injured were admitted in Jinnah hospital, four were in Taluqa hospital Raiwind and three were admitted in Sharif Medical Complex.

At Jinnah hospital, eight police personnel were admitted and two of them were in critical condition, while three people admitted in Lahore General Hospital  were also termed critical.

Nine martyred, over a dozen injured in Raiwind suicide attack

Talking to the media persons, Jinnah Hospital Medical Superintendent Prof Sohail Saqlain said four police personnel who suffered shrapnel injuries, were in surgical ICU and their condition was critical. “When the incident happened, we immediately imposed an emergency in our hospital while all medicine regarding treatment were available in sufficient stock,” he said.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the health department said the department has imposed emergency in all public hospitals across Punjab. Minister for Specialised Healthcare Khawaja Salman Rafique was personally looking after the situation.

“All hospitals have sufficient stock of medicines,” the spokesman said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2018.

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