A reporting hazard: Peshawar, war and violence
Around 437 terrorist attacks took place all over the province with nearly 700 fatalities.
Around 437 terrorist attacks took place all over the province with nearly 700 fatalities. PHOTO: REUTERS
PESHAWAR:
Idrees Khalid, 18, is an only child. Instead of going to church with his parents on Sunday, September 22, he went to play cricket with his friends.
“They wanted me to go to church and be a good Christian, but that fatal Sunday, I didn’t,” he said, talking about the All Saints Church blast. “I found my mother’s body among the dead and my father was so severely injured that he could not utter a word. He just kept staring at me and within an hour, I lost him too.”
As crime reporters, my colleagues and I often come across stories of life and loss, and we have to deal with them the only way we know how – as a news story. But unfortunately, these characters are real and it is impossible not to feel their pain. The pain becomes unbearable when the victim is someone you’ve known your entire life, and their parents, spouses or children have been left to deal with their death.
I lost two of my friends in the violence, Niaz Gul and Muhammad Fida, within days of each other.
Gul was the head of the Mashogagar Aman Lashkar (peace militia) and died in an explosion outside Garhi Mali Khel dispensary’s gate in October. The last time I spoke to him it was at midnight on September 7, after an attack in which nine people were killed on Kohat Road. He was usually one of the first people to reach the site of any attack or accident, to help shift the dead and injured to hospitals.
Fida died nearly a week later due to injuries from the same blast. He was a commander of the Suleman Khel Aman Lashkar, a peace militia formed in 2008. He had started constructing his house when he died. “I am going to arrange the weddings of my two sons soon. Once the house is complete, I will invite you to see it,” Fida had told me.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, anyone can be a victim to militancy or police action. The conflict has given police and militants a freehand to burn, steal and kill.
Another bloody year
2013 was another bloody year for the province. The last 12 months were some of the deadliest. Approximately 437 terrorist attacks took place all over the province with more than 693 casualties, according to the police. A total of 1,584 people were injured in these attacks.
Peshawar was the worst hit with the highest numbers of attacks in which 256 civilians, 53 policemen, eight men from the FC, 15 men from the army, and 20 terrorists were killed.
According to the police department’s figures, the toll went up in 2013 as compared to data in 2012 where around 512 people, including 96 policemen, were killed and 1,074 were injured.
Extortion
Another setback to law and order has been extortion. The police claim in the last two years extortion cases have increased, as more than 241 houses were targeted in the last two years, in 2013, 141 houses in the province were hit by IEDs. More than 39 cases were recorded from Peshawar, followed by 24 in Bannu and 20 in Charsadda. A high-ranking police official said the demand for extortion from wealthy individuals and families had increased and turned into a “profitable business”.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2014.
Idrees Khalid, 18, is an only child. Instead of going to church with his parents on Sunday, September 22, he went to play cricket with his friends.
“They wanted me to go to church and be a good Christian, but that fatal Sunday, I didn’t,” he said, talking about the All Saints Church blast. “I found my mother’s body among the dead and my father was so severely injured that he could not utter a word. He just kept staring at me and within an hour, I lost him too.”
As crime reporters, my colleagues and I often come across stories of life and loss, and we have to deal with them the only way we know how – as a news story. But unfortunately, these characters are real and it is impossible not to feel their pain. The pain becomes unbearable when the victim is someone you’ve known your entire life, and their parents, spouses or children have been left to deal with their death.
I lost two of my friends in the violence, Niaz Gul and Muhammad Fida, within days of each other.
Gul was the head of the Mashogagar Aman Lashkar (peace militia) and died in an explosion outside Garhi Mali Khel dispensary’s gate in October. The last time I spoke to him it was at midnight on September 7, after an attack in which nine people were killed on Kohat Road. He was usually one of the first people to reach the site of any attack or accident, to help shift the dead and injured to hospitals.
Fida died nearly a week later due to injuries from the same blast. He was a commander of the Suleman Khel Aman Lashkar, a peace militia formed in 2008. He had started constructing his house when he died. “I am going to arrange the weddings of my two sons soon. Once the house is complete, I will invite you to see it,” Fida had told me.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, anyone can be a victim to militancy or police action. The conflict has given police and militants a freehand to burn, steal and kill.
Another bloody year
2013 was another bloody year for the province. The last 12 months were some of the deadliest. Approximately 437 terrorist attacks took place all over the province with more than 693 casualties, according to the police. A total of 1,584 people were injured in these attacks.
Peshawar was the worst hit with the highest numbers of attacks in which 256 civilians, 53 policemen, eight men from the FC, 15 men from the army, and 20 terrorists were killed.
According to the police department’s figures, the toll went up in 2013 as compared to data in 2012 where around 512 people, including 96 policemen, were killed and 1,074 were injured.
Extortion
Another setback to law and order has been extortion. The police claim in the last two years extortion cases have increased, as more than 241 houses were targeted in the last two years, in 2013, 141 houses in the province were hit by IEDs. More than 39 cases were recorded from Peshawar, followed by 24 in Bannu and 20 in Charsadda. A high-ranking police official said the demand for extortion from wealthy individuals and families had increased and turned into a “profitable business”.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2014.