‘Mom, we don’t want new dresses, please get up’

The tragedy of Friday's deadly stampede for Zakat handouts at a factory continues to unfold as heart-rending stories of victims come to light. Naseem Begum had gone to the factory to receive a cash handout in Zakat, so that she could buy new dresses for her children on Eid. Little did she know that she would not be with her family on Eid.

Naseem's body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where her husband, Shahid Ali, and 10-year-old son came to collect it. Nobody could hold back tears when the 10-year-old begged his mom's body to get up. "Mom! Get up, let's go home. Why are you not getting up? Mom, we don't want new dresses. Get up and we go home." Shahid Ali, who is an auto-rickshaw driver, recalled his last conversation with his wife.

"She said that the factory is distributing charity money. With this money, we can buy new Eid dresses for our children," Shahid said while quoting his wife. He said that he had asked his wife to stay home and stop worrying about new Eid dresses. Allah will make arrangements, but she would not listen. "She asked me for Rs100 for fare and said that other women from the neighbourhood are also going there. I will be back with them soon," Shahid recalled his wife telling him.

Shahid said that he gave in when his wife insisted. "She took along our son and daughter to collect a Zakat cash handout," he said, adding that his wife got electrocuted during the stampede. "My daughter sustained minor injuries, while my son remained unharmed," he said. Wailing, crying, sobbing and mourning made the hospital environment somber.

A man collapsed after seeing the body of his 10-yearold daughter. Survivors of the tragedy, who were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, alleged that the factory management beat the handoutseekers with iron rods and sticks which triggered the deadly stampede.