Killer kite string claims life in capital
A motorcyclist was killed when a low-hanging kite string slit his throat on Koral Service Road in the federal capital on Saturday.
According to the police, Zafar Iqbal, a 40-year-old resident of Sadiqabad, was riding his bike with his friend on the Service Road in the precincts of Koral police station. Suddenly, the string of a kite got entangled around Iqbal’s neck and slit his throat like a razor.
A Rescue 1122 responding to distress call rushed to the spot and was shifting the victim to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) but he died on the way due to excessive bleeding. The metallic string used these days for aerial duels of kites, had left a deep gash on Iqbal’s neck sliding across it as he went ahead on his bike.
According to sources, while the Rescue 1122 team had reached the spot in minutes and shifted the victim, no legal action was taken for two hours due to the dispute over jurisdiction between Islamabad and Rawalpindi police. Later, the newly appointed DSP Ulfat Arif reached the spot and ordered Koral police station SHO to immediately register a case.
According to officials, Koral police station SHO Shamsul Akbar said that string was in the precincts of the Airport police station, which lies in Rawalpindi, therefore, the case should be registered there.
Contrarily, the Airport police station officers maintained that the case should be registered in the precinct of the police station where the incident took place.
However, DSP Ulfat Arif, who took charge on Friday, reached the spot and ordered Koral SHO to register a case without further delay.
While talking to The Express Tribune, DSP Arif confirmed that a case has been registered in the Koral police station irrespective of where the string had come from.
Despite all efforts of the Rawalpindi police and the district administration, kite fliers continued with the sport using lethal twines like glass-laced and metallic strings.
On Friday, a motorbike rider, Muhammad Nadeem, was injured when a low-hanging metallic kite flying string got entangled in three fingers of his right hand leaving him bleeding profusely on Misrial Road on Friday. Rescue 1122 officials responding to a distress call reached the spot and provided him first aid.
However, the highest casualties were reported on February 26 when Basant frenzy was at its peak. A child was reportedly killed and over 163 people injured in kite flying incidents. At least 25 people were hospitalised due to bullet injuries while many other people were injured falling off the roofs while flying kites.
A five-year-old boy was hit in the head by a stray bullet leaving him struggling for life at a government hospital, while the revellers firing aerial shots were oblivious of the pain and suffering they have brought upon the people. An elderly man was hit in the chest by a stray bullet as he sat sipping tea at a kiosk.
On the Basant day, a 12-year-old child was killed as he tried to loot a stray kite swaying in the air after being cut in the duel of kites called pecha. The metallic string was hanging over power lines and the boy got electrocuted when he grabbed it to capture the kite.
Three motorcyclists were injured when they got entangled in the string of a kite in the Dheri Hasanabad area in the precincts of the Civil Lines police station.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2021.