An Afghan family wrecked by bombings

Victim Zahir Khan had lost his father in a blast in Afghanistan and a step-brother in Peshawar.

RAWALPINDI:

A 32-year-old Afghan national’s journey from his home country to Pakistan in search of a safe haven ended on Wednesday when he was killed in the blast at Sabzi Mandi.

Zahir Khan lost his father in a bomb blast in the Afghan province of Nangarhar and, following his family’s migration to Pakistan in 2005, his step-brother was killed in an explosion in Peshawar’s Namak Mandi area.

A fruit vendor, Zahir earned an average of Rs500 daily for the eight members of his family. They received his body at Holy Family Hospital on Wednesday morning.

“We took residence in Peshawar’s Faqirabad Colony when we came to Pakistan from Afghanistan,” said Azhar Khan Ahmadzai, Zahir’s cousin. “But after two years, I lost another brother in a bomb blast in Namak Mandi.” The family fled to Rawalpindi’s Fauji Colony in 2009, feeling unsafe in Peshawar.

Mohib Gul, another relative, said Zahid eventually planned to return to Afghanistan. “‘I cannot afford to lose more brothers, pray for complete peace and then we will return’, he would say,” said Gul. Zahir’s family will take his body to Afghanistan for burial.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2014.