Unsuspecting victims: Gilgit violence leaves 20 children stranded

Parents may have no way of knowing where their children have been for the last three days.

GILGIT: When Gilgit shut down after the recent violence, 20 children, all under the age of 12, found themselves stranded at a house with limited supplies, and a single caretaker.

Violence broke out Tuesday morning and schools asked children to head back home.

A group of 20 children, however, found themselves in the middle of heavy shelling in Khomer area, and sought refuge at a temporary shelter.

They entered the house of a former engineer, Muhammad Hussain, who had died recently.

According to a neighbour, who informed The Express Tribune about the incident on Wednesday, there was one woman in the house to take care of all of them.

Food supplies have almost exhausted and with communications systems jammed, and the city under a strict curfew, the children have been stranded for almost three days now.

The parents of the children may have no way of knowing where they have been for the last three days, the neighbour said.

Infant in danger

Meanwhile, parents of a 9-month-old boy suffering from kidney failure have appealed to authorities to allow them to go to Islamabad immediately.

“The infant needs urgent medication, which is only possible if he is evacuated to the federal capital,” Mansoor Wali, father of the child and a resident of Kashrote told The Express Tribune.

He appealed to the authorities to let him go to Islamabad through a military or PIA aircraft immediately.

He said that last night he managed to take the child to a Gilgit hospital where doctors advised that the child is shifted to a hospital in Islamabad.

“That is only possible if the authorities provide a seat in an army aircraft from Gilgit to Islamabad,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2012.