Peshawar attack: And then they were gone
‘We have lost our scholars, leaders, teachers – our future’.
Twin suicide attacks turn religious service into mass mourning. Worshippers and those nearby helped fellow beings to the ambulances and consoled the bereaved souls. PHOTO: INP/ REUTERS
PESHAWAR:
Through the tapered flight of stairs, down the narrow lane of Khalid Town, all were silent. All were still.
A mass of people – all Christians – sat outside their homes. Everyone knew what had happened.
Every third house in the locality had lost a family member – breadwinners, fiancés, wives, children, along with the hope of future sons and daughters for some.
Suleman Masih had lost two sisters and three cousins. People could be seen going into his house afar. Screams, wails and sobs grew louder as one drew nearer.
An ambulance halts abruptly in front of Suleman’s house. Men take out two wooden coffins and place them inside, even though his mother, Najiah Bibi, fights the men carrying her daughters’ bodies.
She wrapped her arms around both the coffins. Her daughters, Zaresh and Samreen, had just passed their intermediate exams from Saddar Convent with flying colours. They were awarded scholarships from All Saints Church, Peshawar, for further studies.
Both the sisters were regular visitors of the church.
But Nazir Shahid wasn’t. A principal at the Mission High School, Peshawar, he rarely went to church as he gave tuitions on Sunday. He did go on Sunday but never came back.
Nazir is among those killed and also a resident of Khalid Town. He not only left thousands of students behind, but also six of family members. He was the sole earner in the household.
A few houses down the lane lived Master Khalid, also a teacher. His wife, Naseem, had asked him to go to the church to finalise preparations for their daughter’s wedding. He, too, fell victim to the calamitous blasts.
In the Lady Reading Hospital’s Doctor Colony, eight-year-old Vikram and seven-year-old Shahzad sat silently, stoically, outside their house. Their parents and two brothers went to church on Sunday morning, while they were asleep.
Several others felt they lost a father. Bota Massih, politically affiliated with Awami National Party, arranged dowry for girls, paid school fees of children, helped families with the rent and resolved disputes in Behramabad.
Bota kept the whole community together. But the elder, the social activist, and the caretaker was no more.
“The blast has destroyed our social fabric,” said Baga Gee, Bota’s close friend. “We have lost our scholars, leaders, teachers – our future,” he uttered the last two words with difficulty, and he couldn’t hold back his tears then.
Attacks on the basis of faith in the past year
September 18, 2012
Eight people were killed, over two dozen injured in twin bomb blasts at Dawoodi Bohra Community in Karachi.
November 3, 2012
The Phandu baba Sufi shrine at Chamkani, near Peshawar, was bombed and partially destroyed. No casualities.
November 24, 2012
The shrine of an 11th century Sufi saint, Ali Mardan Shah, was blown up in the Takhtbhai tehsil of Mardan, K-P.
January 10, 2013
4 bombings in Quetta and Swat killed over a hundred and injured an estimated 270. Area predominantly Shia Muslim. LeJ took responsibility.
February 1, 2013
A suicide blast killed 19 people, wounded 45 in a market targeting Shias outside a mosque in Hangu. The death toll was reported above 20.
February 25, 2013
Three people were killed, 27 others injured in a bomb attack at Sufi shrine, Dargah Ghulam Shah Ghazi, in the village of Maari near Shikarpur.
February 20, 2013
A roadside bomb hit the caravan of Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah, a renowned Barelvi cleric of Qambar Shahdadkot, killing one person and injuring several others.
March 3, 2013
Twin blasts occurred in the Shia-dominated Abbas Town, Karachi, which left at least 40 dead and over 135 injured.
March 9, 2013
At least four people were killed, 27 were injured in a blast during Zuhr prayer inside Jamia Chishtia mosque, near Meena Bazaar in Peshawar
May 3, 2013
At least 13 people were killed in twin bomb attacks that targeted two mosques in north-western Malakand region.
June 20, 2013
A suicide bomber blew himself up at Hussaini Madrassa in Peshawar, killing 15 people and leaving 22 injured.
July 11, 2013
Two people were killed and seven injured when explosives rigged to a motorcycle went off outside a mosque frequented by both Sunni and Shia worshippers in Kohat, K-P
Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2013.
Through the tapered flight of stairs, down the narrow lane of Khalid Town, all were silent. All were still.
A mass of people – all Christians – sat outside their homes. Everyone knew what had happened.
Every third house in the locality had lost a family member – breadwinners, fiancés, wives, children, along with the hope of future sons and daughters for some.
Suleman Masih had lost two sisters and three cousins. People could be seen going into his house afar. Screams, wails and sobs grew louder as one drew nearer.
An ambulance halts abruptly in front of Suleman’s house. Men take out two wooden coffins and place them inside, even though his mother, Najiah Bibi, fights the men carrying her daughters’ bodies.
She wrapped her arms around both the coffins. Her daughters, Zaresh and Samreen, had just passed their intermediate exams from Saddar Convent with flying colours. They were awarded scholarships from All Saints Church, Peshawar, for further studies.
Both the sisters were regular visitors of the church.
But Nazir Shahid wasn’t. A principal at the Mission High School, Peshawar, he rarely went to church as he gave tuitions on Sunday. He did go on Sunday but never came back.
Nazir is among those killed and also a resident of Khalid Town. He not only left thousands of students behind, but also six of family members. He was the sole earner in the household.
A few houses down the lane lived Master Khalid, also a teacher. His wife, Naseem, had asked him to go to the church to finalise preparations for their daughter’s wedding. He, too, fell victim to the calamitous blasts.
In the Lady Reading Hospital’s Doctor Colony, eight-year-old Vikram and seven-year-old Shahzad sat silently, stoically, outside their house. Their parents and two brothers went to church on Sunday morning, while they were asleep.
Several others felt they lost a father. Bota Massih, politically affiliated with Awami National Party, arranged dowry for girls, paid school fees of children, helped families with the rent and resolved disputes in Behramabad.
Bota kept the whole community together. But the elder, the social activist, and the caretaker was no more.
“The blast has destroyed our social fabric,” said Baga Gee, Bota’s close friend. “We have lost our scholars, leaders, teachers – our future,” he uttered the last two words with difficulty, and he couldn’t hold back his tears then.
Attacks on the basis of faith in the past year
September 18, 2012
Eight people were killed, over two dozen injured in twin bomb blasts at Dawoodi Bohra Community in Karachi.
November 3, 2012
The Phandu baba Sufi shrine at Chamkani, near Peshawar, was bombed and partially destroyed. No casualities.
November 24, 2012
The shrine of an 11th century Sufi saint, Ali Mardan Shah, was blown up in the Takhtbhai tehsil of Mardan, K-P.
January 10, 2013
4 bombings in Quetta and Swat killed over a hundred and injured an estimated 270. Area predominantly Shia Muslim. LeJ took responsibility.
February 1, 2013
A suicide blast killed 19 people, wounded 45 in a market targeting Shias outside a mosque in Hangu. The death toll was reported above 20.
February 25, 2013
Three people were killed, 27 others injured in a bomb attack at Sufi shrine, Dargah Ghulam Shah Ghazi, in the village of Maari near Shikarpur.
February 20, 2013
A roadside bomb hit the caravan of Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah, a renowned Barelvi cleric of Qambar Shahdadkot, killing one person and injuring several others.
March 3, 2013
Twin blasts occurred in the Shia-dominated Abbas Town, Karachi, which left at least 40 dead and over 135 injured.
March 9, 2013
At least four people were killed, 27 were injured in a blast during Zuhr prayer inside Jamia Chishtia mosque, near Meena Bazaar in Peshawar
May 3, 2013
At least 13 people were killed in twin bomb attacks that targeted two mosques in north-western Malakand region.
June 20, 2013
A suicide bomber blew himself up at Hussaini Madrassa in Peshawar, killing 15 people and leaving 22 injured.
July 11, 2013
Two people were killed and seven injured when explosives rigged to a motorcycle went off outside a mosque frequented by both Sunni and Shia worshippers in Kohat, K-P
Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2013.