ISLAMABAD: The last time a suicide bomber attempted to visit death upon the Qasr-i-Sakina Imambargah, it was a valiant security guard who prevented a larger tragedy by intercepting the terrorist. This time too, it was Syed Ghulam Hussain, the 70-year-old volunteer, who confronted the attacker as he approached the iron gates.

The suicide bomber shot Hussain, the only armed guard at the imambargah, killing him on the spot. But the firing alerted other guards inside the compound, as well as worshippers who were offering Maghreb prayers inside prayer hall of the imambargah at the time.

Sajid Shah was deployed at the entrance to the prayer hall. He recalls seeing the suicide bomber walking towards the main gate. “When I saw the way he was walking towards the imambargah, I had a gut feeling that his intentions were not good,” he said.

Shah said that he moved to close the gate, but the attacker saw this and, running towards the entrance, opened fire at the guard.

“I was shot in the arm, but I still managed to muster enough strength to close the gate,” he recalled.

Malik Yousuf, another security volunteer on the premises, sounded the alarm and shouted at the worshippers inside to lock the prayer hall.

“During the commotion, another young volunteer was shot,” Yousuf told Dawn, adding, “but this gave me time to lock the grill, preventing the bomber from entering the prayer area”.

Haji Abdul Shakoor – a local butcher – also attempted to challenge the attacker in the courtyard, but was mowed down by his bullets.

Haji Abdul Shakoor’s brother, Ghulam Haider, told Dawn that his father and brother were offering their prayers in the mosque at the time of the attack.

Quick thinking by razakars on duty saved worshippers’ lives; survivors taken to hospital by locals

“A friend of mine called me and said that someone was attacking the imambargah. I rushed to the scene and when I reached the gates, I saw a few men carrying my brother to a cab parked near the entrance. I got into the car and we sped towards the hospital,” he said.

His father was also among the injured and had suffered shrapnel wounds to the right side of his body.

“But he was conscious and kept talking to me. My brother was in a bad state and told me he was having trouble breathing so I opened a window. By the time we reached the hospital, my brother had stopped responding to me. I tried to revive him, but the doctors pronounced him dead on arrival,” he said, choking on his tears. Shakoor is survived by six children.

Yousaf was adamant that the authorities have turned a blind eye towards the extremist presence that had built up in the area over the past few years.

Shakrial has never been a sectarian hot spot.

The Qasr-i-Sakina Imambargah even shares a wall with the Sain Boota shrine and an adjacent Sunni mosque. Shakrial is also the native town of Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) leader Raja Nasir Abbas.

Published in Dawn February 19th , 2015

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