A childhood cut short by a kite

Five-year-old Sanaya buried; family demands total ban on killer string

KARACHI:

Days after celebrating her fifth birthday, little Sanaya Noor-e-Iman went shopping with her grandparents, happy and full of plans. She never made it home. On Sunday night, near Liaquatabad Dakkhana Bridge, a kite string no one saw coming wrapped around her neck and ended her life in seconds.

Sanaya, the eldest of three daughters of Daniyal, was laid to rest on Monday after her funeral prayers at Jamia Masjid Ghausia, Korangi Sector 34/2. Family members, relatives and neighbours attended the funeral, and she was buried in the local graveyard amid sobs and sighs.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, her father Daniyal said every parent holds their children dear, and only the family that loses a loved one knows what it endures. He demanded a complete ban on the deadly string and vowed to pursue the case legally.

Her grandfather, Muhammad Nazir, a resident of Mehmoodabad, said he had gone to Nazimabad with his wife and granddaughter for shopping. On their way back on a motorcycle, a kite string suddenly struck near Liaquatabad. In the heavy traffic, he said, they could not at first understand what had happened. He was also injured when the string brushed his neck.

"Today it was my granddaughter, tomorrow it could be someone else's child," he said, calling for immediate government action to eliminate the killer string.

Liaquatabad police have registered a case on behalf of the state against an unidentified accused under the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Police also claimed to have arrested a man, Sabir, on charges of flying and selling kites, and recovered 22 kites, a reel of manja string, five bundles of manja and 22 bundles of ordinary string from his possession.