Mattani blast aftermath: Taxis refusing to carry injured to be banned

Qaumi Islahi Committee lifts ban on Akka Khel peace militia.

PESHAWAR:

A council of elders in Mattani has decided to take action against taxi drivers who refused to shift blast victims to hospitals after the explosion on Friday.

The deadly explosion claimed 11 lives and injured 18 others. Inadequate first aid and poor rescue efforts are said to have increased the number of casualties in the blast.

The Qaumi Islahi Committee said there were very few taxi drivers willing to shift the injured to hospitals. Many people died before reaching the hospital as they  had to be carried on foot to hospitals by relatives and local samaritans.

A local elder and former nazim of the Mattani Union Council Haji Aasad told The Express Tribune that they had received complaints against drivers who disappeared after the bomb blast and refused to take victims to the hospital.

“We have decided to take action against such people because ambulances from Peshawar cannot reach Mattani since it is an hour’s drive from the city,” he said, adding that most taxi drivers said they could not ‘afford’ to carry the injured in their cars.

“On these grounds, the committee has decided to impose a ban on the accused taxi drivers to prevent such things in the future,” said Aasad.

The committee has also lifted the ban on Aman  Sarishta -Akka Khel peace militia from visiting the Mattani bazaar. The ban had been placed earlier by local elders.

An elder of the area, Qader Khan, said: “Earlier there were reports that vehicles of the Khyber-Agency-based peace militia, which is fiercely resisting Lashkar-e-Islam, was the target. However, it has been proved that this was not the case and the ban has been lifted.”

The committee further decided that the cost of fuel used in transporting the injured would be compensated to those taxi drivers who helped the victims in order to encourage people to assist victims in such circumstances.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2012.