Road rage victim fights for life
Unidentified men opened fire at Colonel Tariq Ghafoor's vehicle as he was on his way home. PHOTO: AFP
Two female students on a college tour bus were injured after unidentified people opened fire on their vehicle on Multan Road on Tuesday.
A victim identified as Ayesha, now undergoing treatment at Lahore General Hospital, has been put on a ventilator and is in critical condition. A bullet had struck her head and doctors could not operate to remove the bullet, fearing that it could further worsen her condition. The other victim, Nimra, also suffered a bullet injury. However, her condition was reported stable since the bullet just grazed her arm.
Reportedly, a private college tour left on eight buses from Pattoki to Kashmir at midnight. The victims, Ayesha and Nimran, were riding at the back of a bus carrying 30 students. The unidentified shooters were following the bus in a car. Near Mohlanwala, they fired on the bus from their car. Two bullets hit the victims, while a third was lodged in the bus itself.
Ayesha’s brother, Usman, told media persons that Ayesha was the youngest of four siblings and she had left Pattoki on tour with her college fellows. After midnight, her family received a call from a teacher stating that she was injured after shards of glass hit her. After sometime, they received another call from Rescue 1122, informing them that a vehicle had shifted Ayesha to a hospital in Lahore for treatment. She was undergoing a CT scan at Lahore Services Hospital when they arrived at around 4:00am.
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Usman added that Ayesha had been shot in the head and had been put on a ventilator. The bullet had entered her head from the temple and was lodged in the upper portion of her brain.
The doctors were facing a precarious situation, as they could not operate on the victim as it may further worsen her condition. Ayesha’s father said that only prayers could save the life of his daughter. He added that the family had no enmity with anyone and lambasted the attackers for shooting at girls and women.
DIG Investigations Lahore Imran Kishwar said that police had been searching for the suspects using CCTV footage, CDR analysis and human intelligence. He said that so far, police had identified the make and model of the car involved in the incident. However, the identity of the suspects had yet to be ascertained.
Initial investigations suggested that the incident was a result of road rage. Reportedly, the car driver had opened fire after being frustrated over a confrontation while overtaking near Mohlanwala. Further investigation and the arrest of the suspects would bring the facts to light, Kishwar added.
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Meanwhile, Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi has taken stern notice of the incident and sought a report from Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore, ordering that the accused who fired on the bus and wounded two students should be arrested soon. The students, injured as a result of the firing, will be provided with the best treatment facilities, he stated. Earlier this month, a teenager allegedly rammed his vehicle into another, leaving six members of a family dead in the provincial metropolis.
Police investigations indicate that Afnan had harassed the victims, following them for a considerable distance before the fatal collision.
Crash survivor and the driver of the targeted car Hasnain and his father had noticed Afnan’s ‘inappropriate behaviour’ and attempted to stop him from misbehaving and following them. The suspect had been tailing the family’s car from Y block, harassing them along the way. With additional input from APP
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2023.