Too little too late?: 20 FC men deployed to guard bomb-wrecked refugee camp

Families of blast victims take bodies to Upper Orakzai for burial, say no govt official came to visit the camp.

HANGU:

In the wake of a devastating bomb blast that killed at least eight people on Sunday, the district police deployed around 20 Frontier Constabulary (FC) officials at Khwaja Muhammad camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Hangu.

Hangu DPO Nazir Kundi, while talking to journalists, confirmed that IDPs housed in the camp were the main target. He said an FIR of the blast was registered at Saddar police station against unidentified militants under sections 302 and 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Kundi said FC officials were deployed inside and outside the camp, adding five more personnel could be stationed for added security. The DPO added four suspects had been rounded up from within the camp limits during a search operation after the blast and moved to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

Last rites

Grief-stricken relatives took the bodies of their loved ones to their hometown in Upper Orakzai Agency for burial.  Camp residents said not a single political figure or government official visited to offer condolence or a shoulder to cry on.

Lal Badshah, whose seven and eight-year-old sons—Lal Wali and Sher Wali—were killed while playing in the makeshift camp market, said he had to take the bodies to his hometown early in the morning.

“We could not find a place to bury them in Hangu.”

Badshah said the loss of his two young sons had a devastating impact on him and his wife.  He recalled they had only recently visited the market to buy clothes for Eidul Azha.

“Their mother is constantly looking at the clothes we bought them for Eid; she hasn’t stopped crying,” he added.

A bike bomb

According to DPO Kundi, a motorcycle was rigged with explosives and parked within the camp limits to cause “maximum damage”.

Around seven kilogrammes of explosives were used in the explosive device, bomb disposal unit official Asadullah told The Express Tribune. The attack spread further fear and panic among camp residents, who had recently been threatened by militants to vacate the premises.

“Not a single person living in the camp did anything which would provoke militants to attack us, yet we were targeted,” said Muhammad Sadiq, one of the people wounded in the blast. “We have to battle for survival even though we have nothing to do with this fight.”

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak ordered an enquiry against the blast and directed senior officials to submit a detailed report. He also directed the police and district administration to launch a crackdown and contact the border authorities of Orakzai Agency.

On June 10, unidentified militants fired rockets and hurled grenades at the camp for IDPs from Orakzai in Hangu. The attack followed upon earlier threats asking IDPs to vacate by June 11.

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