Loss of an innocent life

It is very sad and tragic that another incident has happened in which a young medical student has been caught in the crossfire between police and robbers resulting in her death.

Nimrah Baig was returning home from university when she found herself in the midst of an encounter between cops and robbers on Friday. She was travelling in an auto rickshaw in North Karachi’s Anda Mor where a police party encountered a gang of robbers who were trying to flee after committing a robbery.

A fatal bullet struck Nimrah in the head and she was rushed to, at first Abbasi Shaheed hospital and later to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where she succumbed to her wounds on Saturday.

The incident is not only a devastating one for Nimrah’s family but has sent ripples of shockwaves among citizens of Karachi who simply cannot fathom such senseless and reckless killings.

It may be recalled that a few months back a 10-year old girl met a similar fate resulting in her death from crossfire. In her case the former chief justice Saqib Nisar had taken suo moto notice and the matter was taken up at the highest level  Police and medical negligence were responsible in her case.

In Nimrah’s case it is yet to be ascertained if she was hit by a bullet fired from a weapon of police or by the robbers. However, this is not the issue for whoever opened fire the fact remains that a young life has been snuffed out, a family’s hopes and dreams shattered and no expression of words can give the solace they need.

This incident and the earlier one speak volumes about police mismanagement and ineptness. Collateral damage is a fancy phrase commonly coined in police and military parlance.

To say that Nimrah was a collateral damage in the police encounter is to belittle the value of life.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2019.

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