KARACHI: An act of charity turned into a tragedy near Karachi’s Khori Garden on Monday when a stampede caused the death of 20 women and girls who had thronged an outlet where a wholesaler was giving out food items for free. Fifteen people were injured.

Jodia Bazaar, the city’s biggest wholesale market, saw heart-rending scenes of poor families retrieving bodies instead of sacks after organisers of the free distribution were overwhelmed by the needy multitudes.

‘Tokens for free ration were being given away by the distributor at the rooftop of the rice dealer’s three-storey outlet while a 10-kg sack of rice was being handed to women from a nearby ground floor warehouse,’ an eyewitness said.

The Kharadar police said that the rice dealer, Chaudhry Mohammed Iftikhar, a resident of the Defence Housing Authority, had been arrested and booked for ‘negligence and unintentional killing’ of the women.

A woman whose seven-year-daughter was injured in the incident told Dawn that the stampede began at around 2.30pm after the rice dealer left his office due to the unmanageable crowd, saying he would distribute tokens after Iftar.

An injured woman said panic set in when a group of women tried to elbow others out of the way. This prompted a baton-charge by the trader’s employees, leaving a number of women on the ground.

A stampede followed and in no time wails and moans rent the atmosphere.

The Capital City Police Officer, Waseem Ahmed, said that 18 people were killed in the incident. ‘Fifteen of them have been identified,’ he added.

The bodies and the in-jured were shifted to the Civil Hospital. Dr Hamid Padhiyar, a police surgeon, told Dawn that 14 bodies were brought to the mortuary and one of the injured women died at the hospital.

‘The bodies were handed over to the victims’ relatives after medico-legal formalities,’ he added.

However, the hospital’s medico-legal sources said that three bodies were taken away from the hospital without completion of formalities while two were taken away by relatives from the scene of the tragedy.

The dead victims brought to the CHK were identified as Munawwar Begum, 50, wife of Abdul Karim; Nausheen, 16, daughter of Habib Baig; Salima Bibi, 45, wife of Nauroz Khan; Zahoora Bibi, 48, wife of Haq Nawaz; Shabana, 36, wife of Mubeen; Begum, 54, wife of Bahadur; Saleha, 35, wife of Ata ur Rehman; Farhat Afshan, 34, wife of Mohammed Naeem; Shahnaz, 40, wife of Dil Faraz; Basaro, 35, wife of Rahman Gul; Amna, 14, daughter of Younus; Tasleem, 36, wife of Abdus Sattar; Latifa, 45, wife of Khuda Bux; and Bastpari, 38, wife of Waheed Gul.

The injured were identified as Saira, 15, daughter of Khadim Shah; Khatija, 35, wife of Pir Bux; Farkhunda, wife of Alam Bux, Noorin Nisa, Nargis, Kulsom, and Samreen.

Most of the victims hailed from Machchar Colony, a shantytown off Mauripur Road, Baldia Town and Sohrab Goth.

The Sindh government has appointed District and Sessions Judge, South, Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui, as inquiry officer to conduct investigations.

A handout said the inquiry officer would determine the cause of incident and submit a report to the government within seven days.

President orders judicial probe
President Asif Ali Zardari ordered a probe by a judge of the Sindh High Court into the into the Karachi tragedy.

Presidency’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the president called Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and said that the report of the judicial probe should be submitted to him in a week.

The president expressed grief over the loss of lives and offered condolences to bereaved families.