Celebratory fire

Happy occasions such as the New Year and Independence Day are welcomed with noise and dazzle and one cannot pick fault with this exhibition of fervent sentiments. But throwing caution to the wind, many trigger-happy individuals choose to fire their guns in the air in celebration to parade their bravado. Some of them are possibly tipsters who do this as show of drunken revelry, putting lives in great peril. In keeping with the trend, multiple incidents of citizens sustaining bullet wounds in the aftermath of aerial firing, as people unloaded rounds into the air on the eve of Independence Day, were reported in Karachi on Thursday night, despite law enforcers tightening security on the occasion and a ban on the exhibition of weapons.

Among the victims, a woman, Nazo Allahuddin, 38, was injured during celebratory firing in Sohrab Goth, while Mariam, 28, sustained wounds in a similar incident in Mehran Town, Korangi Industrial Area. Saqib, 21, and Ismail, 20, suffered wounds as people fired arms into the air, marking the arrival of Independence Day, in Muhammad Ali Society. All were shifted to Jinnah Hospital for treatment. Others who were brought to the public hospital after getting injured in similar incidents included Ameena Bibi, 60, from Memon Goth; Safeerullah, 38, from Quaidabad; Faisal Aleem, 42, from Manzoor Colony; Rasool Bakhsh, 55, from Shirin Jinnah Colony; and Adam Parvez, 32, from Malir. Separately, Shahzeb, 22, was wounded in celebratory firing in Baghdadi Town; Fahad Hussain, 20, in Kalakot; Sameer, 24, in Orangi Town; and Irfan, 40, near Pan Mandi, in the limits of Risala Police Station. All of them were taken to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital. Similar cases were also brought to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Authorities need to get ever more vigilant on such joyous occasions to stop people from indulging in such dangerous celebratory fire.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2020.

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