The annual Independence Day celebrations are accompanied by the cacophony of fireworks, trumpets and celebratory gunfire mixed with the noise from motorcycles with silencers removed, and residents had no respite this year either with police ineffective to stop violators.
In Rawalpindi, the celebrations started post-sunset on Sunday, with youths dressed in green and white out in large number. Motorcycles had their silencers removed, which creates a loud noise that is above permissible limits.
In all of this, children armed with fireworks – including the Chinese firecracker – wreaked havoc in their neighbourhoods including surprising unsuspecting neighbours with loud bangs.
They were often armed with trumpets, and in some cases vuvuzelas, with their sounds adding to the noise mix along with honking.
The night was punctuated with sounds of gunfire, with people resorting to celebratory firing that has proven fatal on more than one occasion. While no casualties were reported in Rawalpindi this year, at least two people died after being hit by stray bullets in Karachi.
Residents in multiple areas said they had difficulty praying at Maghrib (sunset) and Isha (night) due to the disturbances. It also kept children up or startled and scared them.
A few households reported firecrackers thrown at their roof or inside their premises, due to which they decided to stay indoors. Complaints to the police, they said, failed to stop the menace. It led to several quarrels as well.
One family head said that he strictly forbade children from going to the roof at midnight. It is at that moment when the celebratory firing is most intense.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 15th, 2023.
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