Scavenger’s Death: Enraged locals block Peshawar Road

ISLAMABAD: A scavenger’s accidental death made residents of Postal Colony take to the streets, blocking the busy Peshawar Road for over an hour on Wednesday. The 25-year-old, Zubair Khan, was collecting usable disposal from a garbage dump besides Quaid-i-Azam International Hospital when hospital staff dropped a pack of garbage onto the site from above, hitting Khan in the head. Khan died him on the spot. The locals, holding the hospital’s management responsible for the young man’s death, blocked the Peshawar Road in protest. The body was handed over to his family in Naseerabad colony. Sabzi Mandi police said no complaints were registered by his family, and maintained that the incident appeared to be an accident. The police said they will investigate the incident if they receive a complaint from the victim’s family.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2011.