ISLAMABAD: For the last three months, fruit seller Rehman Ali has been so much traumatized that he is unable to sleep at nights.

The 24-year-old resident of Mardan works at the Sabzi Mandi in Sector I-11.

Talking to Dawn, Ali said he was carrying fruits on his handcart when a huge blast rocked the fruit market on April 9.

“I rushed towards the site of the explosion to help the injured people but was shattered to see two of my friends killed in the blast,” he said.

“After the incident, I have not been able to sleep due to unknown reasons.” Ali said his doctor had advised him to go to his native village and stay there for some time. But Ali said he had to earn a livelihood for his family and cannot take rest.“I used to sell fruits in the crowded Sabzi Mandi but after the blast I cannot even dare to continue my business on the premises,” he added.

Like Ali, Razzaq Khan, 32, a resident of Rawalpindi, is also working as a vegetable seller in Sabzi Mandi. He said his friend and a neighbouring shopkeeper also lost his life in the blast.

“I used to reach here early in the morning to open my shop but after the blast I feel scared,” he said.

Khan said he was planning to move his shop out of the Sabzi Mandi due to the fear of another terrorist attack.

Shah Jahan, 34, from Attock, is working as a loader in the vegetable market. “Before the blast, I never feared to unload crates of fruits from vehicles but now it is very difficult for me to continue the job.” Jahan said hundreds of vehicles carrying vegetables and fruits reached Sabzi Mandi from all over the country daily but there was no system to check them for any explosives.

It may be recalled that the devices that exploded in the vegetable market on April 9 were hidden in crates brought from southern Punjab. As many as 24 people were killed and over 100 others injured in the explosion.

Gulzar Ahmed, 65, from Abbottabad, said he had been working as a taxi driver in Islamabad for over 32 years.

He said small vendors hired his vehicle to take fruits and vegetables from Sabzi Mandi to different areas of the twin cities.

“I used to visit Sabzi Mandi three to four times a day but after the recent blast my wife has been asking me to avoid visiting the fruit market,” he said.

Azmat Abbasi, 53, is running a vegetable and fruit shop in Sector G-10. He said he had to visit the Sabzi Mandi daily to buy fruits and vegetables to run his business.

“In the past, I used to send my elder son along with the taxi driver to bring fruits and vegetables but after the terror incident I have stopped sending him to the area.”

A resident of Sector I-10, Haji Nazir, 55, changed his routine to visit Sabzi Mandi due to fear of terrorism.

“I used to visit the market in the morning to buy fruits and vegetables but after the blast I go there in the evening when there is no rush of people,” he said.

Peshawar-based psychiatrist Dr Iftikhar Hussain said fear of insecurity not only affected the productivity of the labourers but also put a very negative impact on their health. He said this feeling of insecurity also affected the families of the labourers.

Syed Siraj Agha, the chairman of the Fruit Mandi Traders Welfare Association, told Dawn that traders, labourers, fruit and vegetable sellers had been working under the fear of terrorism.

Agha said the Capital Development Administration (CDA) had promised to build a wall around the Sabzi Mandi after an explosion in the market on September 19, 2000, in which 16 people were killed and over 70 injured. However, so far the civic agency has not fulfilled its promise.

He said after the April 9 blast, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also promised to install walk-through gates, cameras and construct the boundary wall. But there is no progress on it too. “The CDA is collecting Rs30 million per year as the entry fee from the traders but has not taken any step for the security of the Sabzi Mandi,” he added.

He also alleged that the government did not give any financial support to the families of those killed and injured in the blast.

Raja Zahid, a private contractor, said the CDA had awarded him the contract of collecting the entry fee at the Sabzi Mandi for two years for Rs30 million per year.

He said there were seven entry points on the premises while around 1,200 vehicles came to the Mandi daily.

He said his staff was collecting Rs30 to Rs300 entry fee and he earned around Rs0.1 million per day.

Director Municipal Administration, CDA, Hamza Shafqaat said the civic agency had hired the private contractor to collect entry fee from the vehicles and earned Rs30 million per year.

“Recently, the control of the Sabzi Mandi was shifted to the Islamabad capital territory administration which is now responsible for the development work inside the premises,” he said.

When contacted, Chief Commissioner Jawad Paul told Dawn that he had forwarded a PC-1 of around Rs35 million to the interior ministry for the construction of a wall, installation of cameras and the walk-through gates in the vegetable market. But the execution of the project depends on the availability of funds, he added.

He said the ICT administration with the help of the Special Branch and the Islamabad police had completed a survey of the Sabzi Mandi. He said the administration also had the complete record of around 4,000 people working in the Mandi.

The chief commissioner said the police and Special Branch had been directed to monitor the activities of the residents of slim areas to counter any terrorist activity.

He also said that the ICT administration will advertise to award contract regarding the collection of entry fee from the vehicles entering into the premises of the Sabzi Mandi.

Mujeeb Qadir Khokhar, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said he did not have any information regarding the submission of PC-1 by the ICT administration for the construction of the wall around the Sabzi Mandi.

Published in Dawn, July 21st , 2014