Attack on Rangers: Guard dies shortly after catching first glimpse of granddaughter

The explosive’s ball bearings and iron pieces penetrated through the victim’s upper torso.

KARACHI: Gulbahar Channa, 55, was able to lay eyes on his newborn granddaughter for the first and last time on Wednesday as his life was cut short by a suicide blast targeting Rangers Headquarters in North Nazimabad on Wednesday.

He was an employee of a private security company and deployed at the main gate of Pakistan Telecommunication Company limited (PTCL) office. After the attack, the explosive’s ball bearings and iron pieces penetrated through his upper torso.

“He was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital along with other injured persons but the doctors pronounced him dead,” said Channa’s son Asif.

“Several times I had asked Baba to leave the job and enjoy his retirement life but now he has embraced martyrdom in the line of duty,” he commented. “Today, God blessed me a baby girl but I also lost my Baba.” The injured and martyred personnel of security forces will be rewarded but, we know that after a day, everyone, including the government, will forget the sacrifice of my father, he frowned.

The residential area of North Nazimabad Block A and B is packed with bazaars, small grocery shops, banks, marriage halls. A flurry of activity is also seen at the PTCL office on a daily basis.

The residents were reluctant to inform the media about the activities of Rangers, however, some residents and shopkeepers expressed dissatisfaction over the location of the headquarters in this vicinity.

“The paramilitary force made this peaceful area a cantonment. It was the second attack on the headquarters and it has upset the entire area,” said a resident.

During the 1992 operation, Rangers were deployed in Karachi to maintain the writ of the government. In the decades that followed, the force has established a school, a food corner called Al-Mehran, big shopping marts, luxury health clubs and an official mess, besides a drilling ground behind the State Bank of Pakistan’s office and residential apartments.

“They have encroached on the streets by erecting barricades. At night, no one can visit their relatives in the two blocks of North Nazimabad without showing their identity,” complained another resident.

“These precautions are for their own safety, as street crimes and other nefarious activities are still happening in the area,” he added.

The death of Channa raises concerns over the location of Rangers Headquarters. The paramilitary force must shift its office to some unpopulated area as was the practice initially, he concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2014.