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Friday March 29, 2024

Twin cities in grip of gloom as victims laid to eternal rest

By Khalid Iqbal
January 10, 2022

Rawalpindi : Like all parts of the country, the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad remained in grip of gloom on Sunday after watching the bodies of the victims of Murree snowfall mayhem. Total 14 dead bodies out of 22 were brought to Rawalpindi and Islamabad in coffins for burial while the rest of the bodies were sent to their native towns.

According to Rescue 1122, six bodies of the family of Muhammad Shahzad; his wife Saima Shahzad, two sons Hasibullah, (10), Samiullah (8), two daughters, Ayesha Shahzad, (12), and Iqra Shahzad, (14), reached their house at Sadiqabad, Kurri Road. Their Namaz-e-Janaza was offered at Rawal Park amid the presence of hundreds of mourners.

The relatives of Shahzad said that the family was very happy before going to Murree. Shahzad’s children were quite excited and telling everyone that they were going to Murree to enjoy snowfall, the relatives said.

Similarly, eight dead bodies of the family of Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Naveed Iqbal, his wife including six children reached Islamabad, and later their relatives took their bodies to their native town Dadhial, Talagang for burial.

The bodies were shifted from Murree to Islamabad by Islamabad Police ambulances where IG Islamabad Muhammad Ahsan Younis along with senior officers visited the house of late ASI and supervised all arrangements.

The IG Islamabad offered his condolences to the family of the deceased and said that the Islamabad Police stood by the family of their officer in this hour of grief and would not leave them alone. He directed the senior officers to be in touch with the family at all times and all possible assistance should be provided to them.

The body of Muhammad Ashfaq, (31), was sent to Gujranwala, while the body of Muhammad Zahid, (27), was sent to Kamalabad, bodies of Maroof, (31), and Zafar Iqbal, (30), were sent to Lahore, bodies of Sohail Khan, (27), Asad Khan, (22), and Bilal, (21), were sent to Mardan while the body of Bilal Hussain, (24), was sent to Karachi for burial.

Talking to ‘The News’, a number of people who got stuck in Murree and later reached Rawalpindi and Islamabad strongly reacted against government attitude. They bemoaned that thousands of families remained trapped in Murree but concerned managements failed to reach and rescue them on time. The government had left them in the lurch to die, they strongly protested.

Zakir Hussain, his wife Samina Naaz, two sons Tabish and Gulzar, and one daughter Zainab could not stop their tears saying that they were helpless in the snow. There was no petrol, no food, and no heat to get warmth. All of our mobile phones became dead due to low battery. “We were waiting for help and crying but nobody was there to help us, they said.

Aroosa Tariq said that government should have alerted the public from going to Murree due to harsh weather. “If Met Office issued weather warning advisory on January 5 then why local management did not take the issue seriously,” she asked.

Ayesha Bhatti along with her family members bowed down their heads in ‘Sajda’ when they reached in Rawalpindi and said that people were dying in front of them. We had viral messages on social media for help but local managements were sleeping. There was neither drinking water nor food but our government was busy in different kinds of other works, she strongly condemned.

Muhammad Rizwan, along with his family said that there is no coordination between departments.

Sara Ahmed, a housewife said that they will never go to Murree in their whole life again. People started dying from Friday night but nobody cared for them.

Several other people including Nadia Hussain, Muhammad Maqsood, Muhammad Rafaqat, Dil Nawaz, Shahid Shah, Noshi Afzaal said that despite the issuance of weather warning by the Met Office on January 5, the local management of Rawalpindi and Islamabad failed to adopt safety measures to stop thousands of visitors to enter Murree in heavy rainfall.

“Who is responsible, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) should take suo moto notice on this issue in which government played with innocent lives, people appealed.

Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi Muhammad Ali said that maximum roads have been cleared. The majority of trapped people have left for their homes, he claimed. He also said that we have provided trapped people with first aid facilities.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar along with Provincial Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja and several other high-ranking officers reached Murree and monitored the whole situation by helicopter. They were seeing the helplessness of the public through helicopter.