Qissa Khwani Bazaar’s oldest tea shop is back in business

The qehwa khana closed down after the September 29 blast in which 42 people were killed.

PESHAWAR: One of the oldest qehwa khana or tea shops damaged in the deadly Qissa Khwani Bazaar bomb attack in September reopened after two months on December 2.

The tea stall is adjacent to the Khan Raziq police station and was damaged in the blast on September 29, which killed 42 and injured 91 people as a massive car bomb tore through the crowded bazaar.

The tea stall had closed down right after and has opened its doors after repair and reconstruction.

According to the owner, Zar Jan, the damages were extensive. The once decrepit and fading tea shop, now has whitewashed walls, a fresh coat of green paint and new seating arrangements.

Jan sits in the same spot he always did – a small cubicle behind the stall.

He was there the day the blast ripped through the bazaar. “It was so powerful that I was smashed against the wall due to the intensity,” he said. “Three of my employees were also injured, however, no one died.”

The fire, which spread as a result of the blast, ruined the structure of the shop.

“The repair cost me Rs400,000 to Rs500,000. Since everything was destroyed in the fire, I had to buy it all again,” he told The Express Tribune. “I didn’t even get any compensation for the loss. Two of my employees who were injured in the blast still haven’t come back to work as they are recovering.”

He added the two month closure had been bad for business. Pointing at the empty spaces at the qehwa khana, he said business was down by half and would take a while to pick up again.

Jan said his staff, a team of six, was glad that they had finally reopened for customers.

The stall is not only a part of the city’s heritage but also Jan’s family business; they have been running it for the last 60 years. Initially it was an inn, known as zamindar musfirkhana, however, even after the inn shut down the name stuck.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2013.