Pakistan

Tragic accident: Main accused in drag race case arrested

Majid Naheem arrested on Saturday after he withdrew his application for bail.

Obaid Abbasi December 19, 2010

RAWALPINDI: Majid Naheem, who was driving the car that ran over five people in Bahria Town drag race, was arrested on Saturday after he withdrew his application for bail.

Moreover, Sheikh Arif -- co-accused and chief organiser of the race -- did not appear before the additional district and session court and his counsel instead presented a doctor’s note advising him bed rest.

Justice Chaudhry Aurangzeb rejected Arif’s non-prosecution bail and directed the investigation officer to examine the medical report for authenticity.

The third accused in the case Waleed Khan, co-organiser, appeared before the court without his lawyer and requested the court to extend his interim bail. The bail was extended till December 20.

Previously, Justice Muhammad Iqbal had granted interim bail to Majid Naheem and Sheikh Arif against surety bonds of Rs100,000 and transferred the case to district and session judge. The district and session judge forwarded the case to additional district and session judge, who set the hearing for Saturday.

The five spectators were killed when Naheem lost control of his car which skidded off the road and ran them over. The race was being organised in Phase VIII of Bahria Town, a posh locality in the outskirts of the twin cities. The relatives of the deceased lodged an FIR with the Civil Line Police against Arif, Naheem, Waleed Khan, Ali Riaz and others.

In a drag race, two challengers race down a straight road. Usually, light sports cars fitted with powerful engines are used. Winning the race requires being able to change gears quickly and smoothly at the perfect time (depending on the optimum revolutions per minute (rpm) of the engine). Since the cars normally speed down a straight road, spectators feel safe standing just on the side and watching the events unfold at relative proximity.

Drivers are required to keep a close watch on their rpms. Turning and manoeuvring skills are not tested. Naheem, however, lost control over his vehicle and drove off the track. Because the car was at a high speed, the spectators did not have any time to move out of the way or run for safety.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (14)

Shehryar Jafri | 13 years ago | Reply A.Sohail there is no place in the world where we get licenses for drag races of modified stock cars! The only drag licenses that we get are of those drag racing cars if you know about them. Secondly name one drag race school in the world who trains people for dragging their modified cars not those dragsters and i will myself write a letter to the SC asking an arrest request of all the other culprits and thirdly yes his car passed all the tests and you can be provided with a report of that too but passing the tests does not mean the person cannot make a mistake. Mr.Suhail a person was a millimeter away from death do you expect him to think of anything else and do you believe that it was a vehicular-slaughter by means ? & Maulana Diesel this car had proper tires that are for drag races. Do you think a person who is this old & who is racing from a very long time all over Pakistan and winning events does not know what kind of tires he has to put up that can cope up with the speed ? And do you think a person who owns a Modified Toyota Supra does not know about tires ? Think about it sir. & Mohsin Akram i second you on that.I totally agree that a single accident cannot stop the motor sports. If in this case we are stopping motorsports then i believe we should turn this country into an Army ruled country and we should stop all political activies through out the country because it kills millions every year.

Mohsin Ikram | 13 years ago | Reply An accident is an accident. The driver or the organisers did not intend to race to kill people. The objective was to indulge in motorsports and have fun. It was unfortunate that the event consumed five lives. The driver and the organisers should be let go with a strong reprimand and government instructed to announce measures to promote motorsports in Pakistan by providing easy leased lands for all kinds of motor racing. I will hold the spectators equally responsible by standing in locations where the car was at highest speeds. They should have been careful as well. Furthermore, in 1955 Le Mans race had a similar accident where a speeding car ran over a slower car and catapulted in the crowd killing 87 people. Le Mans is still being run annually and driver and organisers of that ill fated race were not arrested. So take this unfortunate accident as a major lesson and a way forward. Motorsports has to go on.

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ali | 13 years ago | Reply don't understand how people can be this ignorant. The driver signed a document that his car is not alter and he is not using any power enhancing device but his car was power by NOS and the time if kicked off NOS he lost the control and killed 5 people.

dna | 13 years ago | Reply Consider which actions were lack of responsibilities and which error. The driver was there to win the race and neither endanger himself or the spectators. The responsibility of permissions and safety falls totally upon the organizers and the authorities that were aware of whether the permissions were granted or not. The responsibility also partly falls upon the spectators who did not follow the safety arrangements - which are there exactly to avoid such situations.

Maulana Diesel | 13 years ago | Reply i bet you the front tire of the car burst. Many in Pakistan drive fast on tires that have a lower speed rating which results in the tire bursting at high speed. The tracks should have had proper barriers just for this type of an accident. The organisers could be jailed for manslaughter.

A Suhail | 13 years ago | Reply Did the "innocent" driver had a license that he is fit to drag race? Did he go to a professional drag race school? Did his car passed all the required tests to make sure it was suitable to be used in drag racing? Do not give me that stupid that this is pakistan so you do not need any of the above stuff. This is vehicular manslaughter if not plain murder. Majid was driving that car knowing very well the danger to him and spectators. He can absolve himself with a plea that its the organizers are to blame since they didnt erect safety ropes etc etc. He shouldnt have driven the car if that was the case. BTW his fb update is making round on the net where he is thanking allah for surviving the crash and not a single word for the deceased people. What a douchebag!!!!

Ch Allah Daad | 13 years ago | Reply The organizers and participants of this illegal race should be awarded examplery punishment as few of them have already paid the price with their lives. How come, organizers would allow spectators to watch it at road shoulders. Haven't they seen that every year so many drivers and sometimes spectators also die in these races even when best safety and security measures are adopted.

ji | 13 years ago | Reply i agree with shehryar jafri the organizers are at fault

Syed | 13 years ago | Reply How can you charge the driver for deaths... does the driver asked people to come and watch the event ?? No.. they came by their own will own responsibility... Yes the event organizor are responsible for improper safety provided... but still even in that case the people from government who approved the race without any security measures they are the culprits.. In pakistan we dont even care about safety... but outside world even in small house they put fire alarms to safe people for any mishap... anyways.. arresting driver is not a point... strongly protest against it.. he didnt done it on his own will to kill people... come on.. Organizors and govt offcials should be prosecuted in this case... who approved the race..

Faizan ur Rehman | 13 years ago | Reply yes the main culprits are the organisers and i am astonished to see that howcome spectators are allowed to stand near the track.

Abbas Khan | 13 years ago | Reply We are forgetting one very important point, that spectators were not common people waiting at bus stop. They had paid dollar 150 each to watch this illegal race, thus involved themselves in criminal offence. liability lies on them too. If there were inadequate safety arrangements, then why they paid enormous ammounts to watch. I think end of the day, deceased spectators families will get something and case will be forgotton. Bahria town owners are very genrous people who spend millions on politicians and government officials just to keep them happy, now its turn of judiacry, lawyers and spectators.

Shehryar Jafri | 13 years ago | Reply This sure was a tragic accident but i strongly believe that arresting the driver is a mistake. When the race is legally held and when people know that these are high speed cars they should maintain distance and the organizers should have provided safety to people. It's not the fault of the driver that the child and other people were killed. This all happened because no safety was provided to the people by the organizers. The government should not approve such events if they cannot handle them. It is very obvious that when a car touches 200+ so it can even flip. So i think that arresting Majid is a mistake and a big one. The organizers should be punished. Majid should have been hanged if it was an illegal race without proper permissions but as this was an organised event arresting him is the wrong move.

Rahim Munir | 13 years ago | Reply This was very tragic accident. Thank God the driver has been arrested. First of all, there should not be races at the tracks where there is no safety. The other driver is also a criminal in this case as he was also involved indirectly killing the people.

Yousaf | 13 years ago | Reply I have seen Dr. AQ Khan wrote a note in Daily Jung praising the CEO of Bahria Town, he didn't wrote anything yet about this tragic and horrific incident.

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