Saba Gul: A family’s knight in shining armour

The young woman died as an innocent passer-by in the attack on an FC convoy.

PESHAWAR: At just 20 years of age, Saba Gul, the sole bread earner of her family, had her whole life ahead. However, it was tragically cut short when she was at the wrong place at the wrong time on Tuesday just as a suicide bomber targeted an FC convoy near the Peshawar Press Club.

Saba, a resident of Kotla Mohsin Khan, was on the way to a hospital with her sister when the explosion occurred, killing her on the spot. Her sister, luckily, escaped unhurt.

“She worked as a helper in a government school and was the only earning member of the family,” said 60-year-old Noor Muhammad, Saba’s father.

“I have five sons and four daughters. Out of them, two boys are working—one as a watchman and the other has a pushcart. However, they both left us after marriage and it was Saba who took a job in a government school and supported the family,” he said. Noor said both sisters were suffering from asthma and were heading to the hospital when the attack took place.

“She was better than any of my sons and bravely supported the family, including me and her younger siblings,” Noor recalled. He said that the family owns two cows and sells milk but it would be difficult to make ends meet now without his daughter’s salary.

While saying it was fortunate and almost miraculous that his other daughter escaped unhurt, the bereaved father explained that ball bearings pierced Saba’s back, killing her.

“Good people die young. I am worried about my other children as I am an old man and they are only of school-going age,” he added.

Her neighbours told The Express Tribune that Saba was an upstanding individual who worked hard to provide for her family. “They lived in a small five-marla house and had no other means of earning a living other than Saba’s job,” one of them said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2014.