Article on the Lahore Railway blast, 24th April Tuesday

Article on the Railway blast, 24^th April Tuesday

Bloodshed along with horrible cries and painful voices were seen and heard at the railway station this Tuesday. Paralyzed by fear, citizens are unable to go about their daily routine. That will be the likely impact of the attack on April 24, Tuesday in the Business Express lounge at the Lahore Railway Station that killed two people at the spot and two children the next day leaving over 60 injured. This was the first major terrorist attack in Lahore in over a year or 16 months to be exact, it has shattered whatever hopes of serenity may have begun to emerge in the country’s cultural capital. Coming as it did, just four days after the Bhoja Air crash in Islamabad, the railway attack will further engender greater fear of using transportation. Safety in public transport will now be seen as an illusion with both air and rail travel proving to be fraught with risk.

At about 6 30p.m, a bomb exploded outside the business lounge of Lahore Railway station where a train Awami Express had just arrived. The incident took place on platform number 2 where people were waiting in the lounge for the next train to arrive. According to the officials a Porter Muhammad Boota carrying a bag came across the door of the platform where constable Idrees frisked him upon which the bag exploded resulting in killing both Muhammad Boota and Idrees on the spot.

The passengers waiting on the platform shooked with panic by the explosion. The splinters and pieces of broken windowpanes blew everywhere with the intensity of the blast. The incident created panic at the railway station premises as well as adjoining areas, as the people rushed outside their places to save their lives. The ear-deafening bang of the blast echoed through the congested area frequently thronged by the locals and outsiders.

Rescue operations were called immediately and emergency was declared in all the nearest hospitals. Rescue 1122 and Bomb squad rushed to the scene of crime and inspected for any further threat from the premises. Bomb Disposal Squad and Lahore police collected evidence from the crime scene. However, the crime scene was messed up due to rush of the people as railways police had failed to cordon off the area properly.

Police removed the two bodies to the morgue and started a probe into the incident, while no case was registered till the filing of this report. Constable Idrees, of age 50, a resident of Narowal, and a porter, Boota, age 40, a resident of Chungi Amar Sidhu, Lahore, were the ones who died on the spot. Rescue sources said 65 injured people, including 15 women, were shifted to the Mayo, Ganga Ram and Services hospitals, five of them in critical condition.

Two of them brothers a four-year-old Aamir Sohail and eight-year-old Mehmood, both sons of Zahoor Ahmad of Khanpura, Rahim Yar Khan, succumbed to their wounds at Children’s and Mayo hospitals. The blast left all 14 family members injured. Whereas the death toll has now increased to 4.

After a long peace, finally the silence of terrorism broke out on Tuesday the 24^th April, 2012 taking away 4 precious lives with it and leaving nothing but sorrows. This is the 214^th bomb blast incident since 2001. Killing a total of 338 people and leaving more than 1000 seriously injured. In all these incidents more than 300 were suicidal attacks and the rest either remote controlled of timer. The last issue that took place was also in Lahore where the blast took place in Urdu Bazaar near Gamey shah injuring around 70 people.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani separately condemned the blast and expressed grief and shock over the loss of lives and injuries. They said such cowardly acts of terrorism could not dent the government's resolve to fight and eliminate this menace. They directed the authorities concerned to ensure the provision of best medical care to those injured in the tragic blast. President Zardari and PM Gilani also conveyed their condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gilani telephoned Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and expressed condolences over the killings. He said he had summoned the minister for water and power on Wednesday to apprise him about implementation of the decisions of energy conference. On the other hand PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Interior Minister Rehman Malik also condemned the blast.

Chief minister Shahbaz Sharif announced financial assistance to the deceased’s family and the injured. So On behalf of Chief Minister Punjab Special Assistant on Health,
Salaman Rafique on Monday distributed financial assistance cheques amounting to Rs 1.625 million among the heirs of two deceased children Mahmood Ahmed and Amir Sohail and others 12 injured of the Lahore railway station blast. Salaman Rafique distributed these 14 cheques at Mayo Hospital. He gave two cheques worth Rs 0.5 million each to the father of the deceased children, Zahoor Ahmed. Both children were real brothers.and belonged to Rahim Yaar Khan. Special Assistant to CM also distributed 11 cheques worth Rs 50,000 each among the minor injured and a cheque of Rs 75,000 was given to the injured who sustained heavy injuries.
Pakistani police defused a bomb on a passenger train Awami Express in the country’s northwest (Attock Station) on Wednesday. Bomb diffusal squad reported it to be a 20 kilogram bomb found by a guard in a briefcase in the early hours of the morning on the train from Karachi to Peshawar. Officials say that this bomb could be of the same person or group who blew on the other night. Whereas no clue could be find about the suspects of this blast. IG Police Habibur Rehman told that this was remote controlled bomb with bearings.
Further into investigation all the CCTV footages could have helped identify the culprit had the cameras around the scene been operational. Railway incharge said that due to fewer funds in the department the administration could not pay the rent and the security cameras and walkthrough gates were not functional for two months. The place where the bomb exploded was littered with shattered glass pieces and upended furniture as all the windowpanes were blown up.
To avoid such incidents in future, chief minister have advised the federal government to put more emphasis on the security of the public transport and equip the police with even more high tech gadgets. And more security checks should be implied in order to minimize the threat completely.