Kohistan massacre: Deployment of army on KKH demanded

Passengers and victims’ relatives stranded as bus service to G-B suspended.

ISLAMABAD:

Following the gruesome massacre of 16 passengers on the Karakoram Highway (KKH) at Harban, bus services from Rawalpindi to Gilgti-Baltistan (G-B) have been suspended and passengers, including the victims’ relatives are now stranded, unable to attend the funerals of their loved ones.

The stranded passengers and the local Shia community have urged President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to deploy army personnel along the KKH to ensure security for commuters on one of the “longest and most dangerous highways of the country”.

They stressed that the highway can only be safe if it is thoroughly guarded by army personnel, ironically, whom the assailants impersonated in the killing.

A number of passengers stranded at the Pirwadhai bus stand expressed concern over the government’s negligence in ensuring security for commuters on the KKH, especially along the most vulnerable patch from Bisham to Jaglot where the massacre took place.

“The Kohistan police failed in their duty to provide security to passengers in their jurisdiction,” said Ali Muhammad, a relative of one of the victims in the massacre. Had the police performed their duty and provided escort to the passenger buses, the massacre could have been averted, he said. “We cannot trust the police anymore. The route can only be safe if the passenger convoys are provided security by the army,” he concluded. A large number of stranded passengers shared his sentiments.

A source at the Mashabrum Travel Service Rawalpindi claimed that the actual target of the assailants was a Northern Areas Transport Corporation (Natco) bus, which was carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran. But due to delay in the arrival of the actual target, the assailants began hauling up Shia passengers from other busses instead. He said the Natco bus was supposed to arrive at 8am.

Fazal, the driver of one of the buses from which the perpetrators pulled out Shia passengers, said they were disguised as military commandoes and were equipped with AK-47 rifles. The masked men began checking the identity cards of the passengers and began hauling off those they thought were Shia. They warned the remaining passengers of dire consequences if they moved from their seats. “We heard the gunshots and saw them flee. There was no police contingent in sight and it took them another hour to reach the scene,” said Fazal.

Sher Khan, an official of Mashabrum Travel, said that most of the Shia passengers are traumatised and not willing to travel unless the government ensures fool-proof security along the route to Gilgit. He said that the government should take steps to protect the people and announce compensation for the victims in the massacre.

A passenger waiting to go to Skardu said, “It seems that KKH is now a slaughter ground for people of a particular sect and their commute is at the mercy of the worst of killers.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2012.