Cruel Face of Life in Waziristan
Muhammad Sajjad
Sabir Rahman, 16, and Saima, 3, from Waziristan unlike their other relatives were fortunate enough to breathe their last in Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) while most of their dead relatives even did not get coffins.
Sabir Rahman was shifted from operation theatre to ICU at 12:20 p.m. and at 12:45 p.m., he was declared expired on Wednesday. Lying unattended in head injury ward of HMC, the three-year old Saima breathed her last before this scribe. When nurse declared her dead, one of the tribesmen standing nearby sighed with relief and said: "It is better for her as her parents and whole family are dead."
Whereabouts of another four-year old child Salma were not known and the men who brought her, told The News that they found the injured kid in bazaar. She was still unconscious and carrying Rs20 currency note in her hand. This scribe was unable to imagine the pain and plight of the kid when she will be awaken.
Two-year old Noor Hassan son of Saadatullah was lying unconscious on another bed with her aunt sitting beside him as his mother Nooreda was being treated in orthopaedic ward. In her early twenties, Nooreda said with tears rolling down on her cheeks that she also lost her three-month old daughter in bombardment. The family belongs to Mir Ali.
A twelve-year old injured girl from Mir Ali, Shahnaz daughter of Naqeeb Rahman said that soon before Iftar time she was trying to catch hens in her courtyard when bombardment started and she felt pain in her back and legs and was unconscious then. My brother and sister were also killed, she said in a chocked voice.
A child victim of the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan, being treated at Hayat Shaheed Teaching Hospital in Peshawar
Lying in emergency ward of MC, fourteen-year old Samoda daughter of Abdul Wahab resident of Hassokhel village has lost two third of her face and the remaining part of the face suggested that she used to be a beautiful girl. Her eyes were damaged and one cannot predict that whether she would be able to see her face in the mirror once again or not? Apart from face she had also received injures in arms and legs and was in quite serious condition. She was brought to casualty at about 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday and the relatives accompanying her said that due to closure of roads they had to travel on foot for 15 to 20 kilometres carrying the patient fastened to bed.
Malik Shera Jan Dawar of Hassokhel said, "It normally takes 3 to 4 hours from Waziristan to reach Peshawar but due to road closure it took us some 12 hours to reach here, although we did not make stopover anywhere." He also informed that severe bombardment continued in Hassokhel, Haiderkhel, Haypi, Mossaki, Khushali and Zairaki area. All the daylong aerial bombardment was going on but after Iftar, army resorted to artillery. Now our villages seem like Afghanistan, he added.
Another attendant from Waziristan told on condition of anonymity that both Taliban and army were giving us tough time. "I myself want to kill all of them, both army men and Taliban." The young man has lost 14 members of his family while his house is destroyed and now he is searching for some mission in life.
In head injury section of HMC four minors from Waziristan were admitted while four injured women were under treatment in orthopaedic ward and two patients were admitted to ICU. Seventy-year old Abdul Ghafoor used to sit in a mosque after every Morning Prayers and offer Ishraq prayers. On that unfortunate day he was present in Bakhmal Jan mosque as usual and offering prayers when targeted at 8:00 a.m. His son Zahid said that he was shot in the head from the back and doctor said that chances of survival were minimal. Zahid has done MBA from a recognised university of Peshawar and was quite emotional due to condition of his father.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Waziristan in the last couple of days, majority of whom were women and children, said people of area unanimously present in HMC. It was also learnt that hospitals in Bannu and Mir All were full to its capacity, so they are now shifting injured to Peshawar.
Muhammad Sajjad
Sabir Rahman, 16, and Saima, 3, from Waziristan unlike their other relatives were fortunate enough to breathe their last in Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) while most of their dead relatives even did not get coffins.
Sabir Rahman was shifted from operation theatre to ICU at 12:20 p.m. and at 12:45 p.m., he was declared expired on Wednesday. Lying unattended in head injury ward of HMC, the three-year old Saima breathed her last before this scribe. When nurse declared her dead, one of the tribesmen standing nearby sighed with relief and said: "It is better for her as her parents and whole family are dead."
Whereabouts of another four-year old child Salma were not known and the men who brought her, told The News that they found the injured kid in bazaar. She was still unconscious and carrying Rs20 currency note in her hand. This scribe was unable to imagine the pain and plight of the kid when she will be awaken.
Two-year old Noor Hassan son of Saadatullah was lying unconscious on another bed with her aunt sitting beside him as his mother Nooreda was being treated in orthopaedic ward. In her early twenties, Nooreda said with tears rolling down on her cheeks that she also lost her three-month old daughter in bombardment. The family belongs to Mir Ali.
A twelve-year old injured girl from Mir Ali, Shahnaz daughter of Naqeeb Rahman said that soon before Iftar time she was trying to catch hens in her courtyard when bombardment started and she felt pain in her back and legs and was unconscious then. My brother and sister were also killed, she said in a chocked voice.
A child victim of the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan, being treated at Hayat Shaheed Teaching Hospital in Peshawar
Lying in emergency ward of MC, fourteen-year old Samoda daughter of Abdul Wahab resident of Hassokhel village has lost two third of her face and the remaining part of the face suggested that she used to be a beautiful girl. Her eyes were damaged and one cannot predict that whether she would be able to see her face in the mirror once again or not? Apart from face she had also received injures in arms and legs and was in quite serious condition. She was brought to casualty at about 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday and the relatives accompanying her said that due to closure of roads they had to travel on foot for 15 to 20 kilometres carrying the patient fastened to bed.
Malik Shera Jan Dawar of Hassokhel said, "It normally takes 3 to 4 hours from Waziristan to reach Peshawar but due to road closure it took us some 12 hours to reach here, although we did not make stopover anywhere." He also informed that severe bombardment continued in Hassokhel, Haiderkhel, Haypi, Mossaki, Khushali and Zairaki area. All the daylong aerial bombardment was going on but after Iftar, army resorted to artillery. Now our villages seem like Afghanistan, he added.
Another attendant from Waziristan told on condition of anonymity that both Taliban and army were giving us tough time. "I myself want to kill all of them, both army men and Taliban." The young man has lost 14 members of his family while his house is destroyed and now he is searching for some mission in life.
In head injury section of HMC four minors from Waziristan were admitted while four injured women were under treatment in orthopaedic ward and two patients were admitted to ICU. Seventy-year old Abdul Ghafoor used to sit in a mosque after every Morning Prayers and offer Ishraq prayers. On that unfortunate day he was present in Bakhmal Jan mosque as usual and offering prayers when targeted at 8:00 a.m. His son Zahid said that he was shot in the head from the back and doctor said that chances of survival were minimal. Zahid has done MBA from a recognised university of Peshawar and was quite emotional due to condition of his father.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Waziristan in the last couple of days, majority of whom were women and children, said people of area unanimously present in HMC. It was also learnt that hospitals in Bannu and Mir All were full to its capacity, so they are now shifting injured to Peshawar.
