Katcheri attack aftermath: Survivors recount the day
Post-mortem report says Judge Rafaqat Awan was shot from a distance of two feet.
Pakistani people look for the names of relatives from a list displayed outside the hospital in Islamabad. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
The horror that played out in the district courts on Monday has left deep scars on the minds of those who were injured.
“Our wounds will heal but the wounds left on our minds will always haunt us,” said a lawyer who is under treatment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).
According to Pims Joint Executive Director Dr Altaf Hussain, 30 injured people were shifted to the hospital, four of whom have been discharged while 26 remain in the hospital, three of them critical.
Raja Basharat, an injured lawyer said, “I can never forget the moment when those gun-toting men barged into the room and started indiscriminate firing.
He said that after being shot in the stomach, he ran out for help. But before he got out, he saw three colleagues, dead in pool of blood.
“I was with them there for 45 minutes. There was blood all around me. The moment I heard an ambulance siren, I ran out and collapsed near a petrol pump,” he said.
Abdul Khaliq, 65 , who suffered head injuries due to the blast, said, “When I heard the gunfire, I pulled down the shutter, but just then heard a loud blast shattered the windows and the glass fell on my head,” he said.
Lawyer Nisar Abbasi was shot three times. He said he “cannot forget the moment when those boys began mowing down everyone in their line of sight.”
Bombers’ remains
There are two coffins lying in the Pims mortuary with the remains of the suicide bombers, according to a senior hospital official who asked not to be named. “Judging by his face, the suicide bomber was a clean-shaven teenage boy,” said the official.
According to the official, their fingerprints and body samples have been sent for the DNA testing.
The report also said that slain sessions judge Rafaqat Awan was shot from a distance of two feet.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2014.
The horror that played out in the district courts on Monday has left deep scars on the minds of those who were injured.
“Our wounds will heal but the wounds left on our minds will always haunt us,” said a lawyer who is under treatment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).
According to Pims Joint Executive Director Dr Altaf Hussain, 30 injured people were shifted to the hospital, four of whom have been discharged while 26 remain in the hospital, three of them critical.
Raja Basharat, an injured lawyer said, “I can never forget the moment when those gun-toting men barged into the room and started indiscriminate firing.
He said that after being shot in the stomach, he ran out for help. But before he got out, he saw three colleagues, dead in pool of blood.
“I was with them there for 45 minutes. There was blood all around me. The moment I heard an ambulance siren, I ran out and collapsed near a petrol pump,” he said.
Abdul Khaliq, 65 , who suffered head injuries due to the blast, said, “When I heard the gunfire, I pulled down the shutter, but just then heard a loud blast shattered the windows and the glass fell on my head,” he said.
Lawyer Nisar Abbasi was shot three times. He said he “cannot forget the moment when those boys began mowing down everyone in their line of sight.”
Bombers’ remains
There are two coffins lying in the Pims mortuary with the remains of the suicide bombers, according to a senior hospital official who asked not to be named. “Judging by his face, the suicide bomber was a clean-shaven teenage boy,” said the official.
According to the official, their fingerprints and body samples have been sent for the DNA testing.
The report also said that slain sessions judge Rafaqat Awan was shot from a distance of two feet.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2014.