Peshawar blast

Friday, December 12, 2008 By Bureau report

PESHAWAR: The deadly bomb explosion in the heart of the Walled City here last Friday made dozens of families mourn the demise of their near and dear ones instead of celebrating Eidul Azha. The shocking incidence took lives of more than 35 innocent people, injuring 140 as well as depriving many of their businesses, homes and shops. Those, who sustained injuries in the blast and admitted to the nearby Lady Reading Hospital, the major health facility of the Frontier province, never tired of narrating their ordeals. Mohsin, a teenager hailing from Parachinar suffered head injury on and injuries on his chest also narrated his awful story. Talking about the incident, he said that he was staying at Pak Hotel as he had to leave for Parachinar early morning. “At the time of blast I was on second floor when I heard a big bang and I fell down,” Mohsin, the tailor by profession said. Mohsin, who was complaining of backache, went on to say that he did not felt that he had suffered injuries while coming downstairs. “When I reached the main gate of the hotel I felt blood streaming out of my head. After that I became unconscious and fell on the stairs of the hotel.” He appeared to be extremely critical about the role of the law-enforcing agencies, saying that a huge chunk of national exchequer was being spent on them, but they have absolutely failed to perform their duties by putting a leash on terrorists. Syed Hussain, a daily-wager at a local teashop while narrating his sufferings, said that he was serving tea to a nearby shop when suddenly the blast occurred and the intensity was so high that he fell into the nearby drainage, fracturing his left leg. “It is altogether beyond my comprehension that what kind of Islam is this, in which innocent people are being targeted. They turned Eid, the Islamic festival, into a mourning for us,” he said. He said that the militants should have at least differentiated between the combatants and non-combatants, adding, “I don’t know what purpose they have served by killing so many innocent people,” he said.