After bombing, parents, teachers sign petition for stricter checks in school neighbourhood

Relocate police station, set up check posts and only allow registered cars to enter vicinity.

KARACHI:

Parents, students, teachers and residents held a candle-light vigil near a bomb blast site close to Washington International School on Saturday for the people who lost their lives in the attack on a senior police officer’s house nearby. The outpouring of grief barely masked the anger that was only tempered by a determination to make the neighourhood safer.

Eight schools are located in this part of DHA Phase VIII, but so was CID SSP Chaudhry Aslam Khan’s residence, now a shell after a 300kg bomb went off. One of WIS’s students and his mother, a teacher, were killed because the explosion took place at about 7:30am as schools open for the day.

Now a petition is being signed to ask for more security and consider the relocation of the Darakshan police station that is cheek by jowl with the school campuses. “We don’t want the police to leave the area,” said one parent. “We just want them to relocate to a safer place, so they can stay safe and we can stay safe as well. They can provide security to empty VVIPs houses, but why can’t they protect a place which has around 7,000 children coming every single day?”

The petition is addressed to Defence Housing Authority and calls for the demarcation of the area in which the schools are located, checkposts and CCTV coverage for all entry and exit points. It also asks that only transport with stickers issued and approved by DHA by allowed to enter the vicinity in school hours. Other transport should be stopped and searched.

The petition also says that no tankers, trailers, pick-ups or other trucks should be allowed in the vicinity during school hours.

By Saturday evening, at least 250 signatures were put down. The organiser said that they would need at least two days before a final count could be given. “It was horrific, tragic and devastating,” cried Abeer Amir of WIS. “We want security, we want the government to do something. After the incident, no one from them, no representative from the security forces came [to see us].”

Instead, now a letter has been written to these quarters, the chief minister, governor, chief justice of Sindh and chief justice of Pakistan. The parents acknowledge the lives lost, including those of “brave policemen who are constantly giving their lives for our protection”. They expressed  an understanding of the limitations, that it is “humanly impossible for [the] policemen to ensure their own security [while] located in a highly vulnerable civilian area with extremely dense traffic”.

As the petition was being signed, amid scores of burning candles in the dark, hundreds of faces silently praying for WIS student Mohid and his mother, teacher Mumtaz. “It could have been my child, your child or anyone’s child,” exclaimed Anika Sultan, a parent.

The parent of an eight-year-old CAS student, Ayeesha Kamal, teared up. “It was an act of cowardice,” she remarked. Samina Khan, another parent, is too scared to send her child to school. The parents may be beside themselves with fear but they are not the only ones who are wondering who would do such a thing. “I think the Taliban did it,” offered SK, a 14-year-old student from a school nearby. “They want to strike fear in the hearts of people so they can take over the country.”

In order to offer support, people who did not live in the neighbourhood also turned up. One of them was Rohail Hyatt of Coke Studio fame. “The incident was very tragic. It’s a reminder for all of us to understand that wherever innocent blood is spilt, it is unjust,” he said. “I’m here to support this cause because I think we can only fight hatred with love and not with more hatred. Hence, we all need to unite.” With him was Adnan Malik, who remarked: “It’s a nuisance for the public that they [the army and police] live in residential areas.”

After a moment of silence, Fateha was recited for the deceased. When Abbasi said that they were gathered for Mumtaz and Mohid, a voice emerged from the crowd: “And also for the police who lost their lives.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2011.