In life and death, Riasat Bibi comes to the aid of her family
Mother and daughter died in the brutal blast on Charsadda Road on Sept 27, 2013.
CHARSADDA:
It was a typical story. Man marries his daughter to his brother’s son to keep it in the family. Over the decades, the husband worked the fields while the wife had two jobs—to put together money to build a house for their family of six. But the couple didn’t get the chance to see their plans to fruition; their story had a more abrupt ending.
Riasat Bibi and her daughter Mubeena Raheem had gotten on the Civil Secretariat bus on the morning of September 27, 2013 and never came home. A timed explosive device (roughly weighing seven kilogrammes) went off, the force of the blast lifting the large passenger bus and throwing it away from the point of impact.
The bereaved widower and father, 60-year-old Raheem Gul, will never forget the moment when he heard about the blast at the mosque he had gone to for Friday prayers. “The fear I felt…I knew my wife and daughter always used that bus to get to work.” he said.
His wife Riasat Bibi was a class IV employee at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Mubeena had recently been hired at a medical supply company in Peshawar. “They regularly used the Secretariat bus because it was cheap and fast, said Gul.
“That morning Riasat made breakfast for all of us and then went to work, taking our neighbour Shazo Bibi with her for a check-up,” shared Gul. “Shahzo Bibi lost one of her legs that day and is now paralysed.”
Till death do us part
“We were happy together,” said Gul about life with his late wife. “My uncle married her off to me because he had no son (to carry on the lineage).”
He said, “Being a farmer, I worked the fields while she worked at LRH in the morning and would come home and work privately as a midwife.”
“We bought a 12-marla plot to build a house, but back then we could not afford to start construction,” said the grieving man. “Now construction has started because…we received Rs4 million in compensation money which families of victims receive,” his voice trailed off as he pointed at a building under-construction.
“She earned for us and now even in death we are dependent on Riasat’s income,” said Gul quietly.
The short cycles of life
Learning of the death of his mother and sister, the couple’s older son Muhammad Jamal rushed back from Saudi Arabia where he was working.
“Mubeena had just gotten a job at a medical supply company,” said Jamal. “She had passed her FSc exam as well as the lady health worker course; it was her first job,” he added.
“Her first cheque came to us after she died.”
After Riasat Bibi and Muneeba, said Jamal, “There was only my sister Sumbal at home who was 16 and a heart patient and my father is an old man; my younger brother Jalal could not take over the domestic affairs.”
Jamal quit his job there, got his visa cancelled and still has not found a job here.
Sumbal’s health deteriorated after her mother and sister’s deaths. “She died eight months after the bus blast.”
He said after he came back to Pakistan, his father married him off to a cousin. “It did not even look like a marriage ceremony. It was just a formality as we needed a woman around the house to help with the chores.” Like his father, Jamal ended up marrying his uncle’s daughter.
“Now only I, my wife, brother and father live under this roof,” said Jamal. Jalal got a job on the deceased employee’s quota. “We are living on the mercy of our mother’s pension and Jalal’s salary.”
Sahib Gul
Sahib Gul had taken a day off on that fateful Friday and had taken the Civil Secretariat bus with one of his contractors for some other chores.
His brother Mazhar Ali told The Express Tribune, “After Sahib’s death, my father, who was once a healthy man, become a heart patient,” said Ali.
According to Ali, Qaumi Watan Party leader Sikandar Sherpao had visited their house at the time and promised Sahib’s brothers a job in the civil services to help with the deceased’s children. “But that was only an announcement,” said Ali.
The K-P government gave half a million rupees to the deceased’s children, and that was the end of all help or compensation. “No PTI worker or leader visited us.”
Sahib’s brother said no police officials visited the family with regards to any investigation. As was learnt earlier by The Express Tribune, the bus driver and his helper were arrested on suspicion and then released.
“Many [such] buses are regularly going to Peshawar from Charsadda, without any security arrangements,” said Ali.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2014.
It was a typical story. Man marries his daughter to his brother’s son to keep it in the family. Over the decades, the husband worked the fields while the wife had two jobs—to put together money to build a house for their family of six. But the couple didn’t get the chance to see their plans to fruition; their story had a more abrupt ending.
Riasat Bibi and her daughter Mubeena Raheem had gotten on the Civil Secretariat bus on the morning of September 27, 2013 and never came home. A timed explosive device (roughly weighing seven kilogrammes) went off, the force of the blast lifting the large passenger bus and throwing it away from the point of impact.
The bereaved widower and father, 60-year-old Raheem Gul, will never forget the moment when he heard about the blast at the mosque he had gone to for Friday prayers. “The fear I felt…I knew my wife and daughter always used that bus to get to work.” he said.
His wife Riasat Bibi was a class IV employee at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Mubeena had recently been hired at a medical supply company in Peshawar. “They regularly used the Secretariat bus because it was cheap and fast, said Gul.
“That morning Riasat made breakfast for all of us and then went to work, taking our neighbour Shazo Bibi with her for a check-up,” shared Gul. “Shahzo Bibi lost one of her legs that day and is now paralysed.”
Till death do us part
“We were happy together,” said Gul about life with his late wife. “My uncle married her off to me because he had no son (to carry on the lineage).”
He said, “Being a farmer, I worked the fields while she worked at LRH in the morning and would come home and work privately as a midwife.”
“We bought a 12-marla plot to build a house, but back then we could not afford to start construction,” said the grieving man. “Now construction has started because…we received Rs4 million in compensation money which families of victims receive,” his voice trailed off as he pointed at a building under-construction.
“She earned for us and now even in death we are dependent on Riasat’s income,” said Gul quietly.
The short cycles of life
Learning of the death of his mother and sister, the couple’s older son Muhammad Jamal rushed back from Saudi Arabia where he was working.
“Mubeena had just gotten a job at a medical supply company,” said Jamal. “She had passed her FSc exam as well as the lady health worker course; it was her first job,” he added.
“Her first cheque came to us after she died.”
After Riasat Bibi and Muneeba, said Jamal, “There was only my sister Sumbal at home who was 16 and a heart patient and my father is an old man; my younger brother Jalal could not take over the domestic affairs.”
Jamal quit his job there, got his visa cancelled and still has not found a job here.
Sumbal’s health deteriorated after her mother and sister’s deaths. “She died eight months after the bus blast.”
He said after he came back to Pakistan, his father married him off to a cousin. “It did not even look like a marriage ceremony. It was just a formality as we needed a woman around the house to help with the chores.” Like his father, Jamal ended up marrying his uncle’s daughter.
“Now only I, my wife, brother and father live under this roof,” said Jamal. Jalal got a job on the deceased employee’s quota. “We are living on the mercy of our mother’s pension and Jalal’s salary.”
Sahib Gul
Sahib Gul had taken a day off on that fateful Friday and had taken the Civil Secretariat bus with one of his contractors for some other chores.
His brother Mazhar Ali told The Express Tribune, “After Sahib’s death, my father, who was once a healthy man, become a heart patient,” said Ali.
According to Ali, Qaumi Watan Party leader Sikandar Sherpao had visited their house at the time and promised Sahib’s brothers a job in the civil services to help with the deceased’s children. “But that was only an announcement,” said Ali.
The K-P government gave half a million rupees to the deceased’s children, and that was the end of all help or compensation. “No PTI worker or leader visited us.”
Sahib’s brother said no police officials visited the family with regards to any investigation. As was learnt earlier by The Express Tribune, the bus driver and his helper were arrested on suspicion and then released.
“Many [such] buses are regularly going to Peshawar from Charsadda, without any security arrangements,” said Ali.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2014.