KARACHI: There is nothing left for Saleem Ahmed to do other than wait for information about his nephew and his mother who have been untraceable since the Mina stampede, while his two other relatives have lately been found dead at a hospital in Saudi Arabia.
Sitting in the porch of his home in North Nazimabad, Saleem, the eldest in the family, on Tuesday spoke about the ordeal the family is trying to get through. From where he sat, some people could be heard reciting the Quran in an otherwise quiet home.
Five of Saleem’s relatives had left for Jeddah late September to perform Haj. They included Prof Iftikhar Ahmed, 72, head of the geology department at Urdu Science College, his wife Raana Iftikhar, 64, his son Zubair Ahmed, 33, manager at Engro Foods, Prof Talmeez Ahmed, 66, former principal of Jinnah college, and his wife Prof Shams Jahan, 64, principal of Abdullah Government College.
However, Prof Jahan is the only one among them to make it back home. “She is on sedatives and is under immense trauma. She lost her husband and her brother, while her brother’s family [Raana Iftikhar and Zubair Ahmed] are being searched in Jeddah,” says Saleem.
Speaking about the tragedy in a matter-of-fact manner, he says he won’t call them missing. “Missing is a subjective word in this context. They are either injured or dead. We are doing everything in our capacity to locate them, and hopefully we will [find them]. But what adds insult to the injury is the response of our authorities.”
The government should have pressed the Saudi authorities to ascertain the exact number of Pakistanis dead, he says.
Coming to how it all happened, Saleem elaborates that the family lost each other near Maktab 85. “They were together in the beginning. Prof Iftikhar and Shams Jahan were in the wheelchairs and Prof Talmeez and others were walking before them. At one point, the wheelchair of Ms Jahan got stuck and she stopped to check the wheel. In the meantime, others walked ahead and as a result they lost each other,” he says while narrating what Ms Jahan, who received minor injuries and was the first one to reach her hotel, informed the family after returning to Karachi.