ISLAMABAD, Dec 29: As many as 87 people have lost their lives, including eight in Saturday’s incident, in three firecrackers explosions in Rawalpindi during the last 25 years, a source told Dawn.
The worst explosion of firecrackers took place at Bagh Sardaran locality in 1978, in which some 65 people were killed and over 100 received injuries.
After this blast, the district administration and police were directed by the government to remove all firecracker manufacturers from the city area to safeguard the lives of the citizens.
However, even after a lapse of 20 years, no concrete action was taken by the authority to curb manufacturing and trading of firecrackers in the city areas. As a result, another explosion took place at Narankari Bazaar in 1998, that claimed 14 lives, including four children, and left 56 injured.
The smugglers operating on the Rawalpindi-Sust border route, in connivance with the customs and police authorities, illegally imported firecrackers which led to the Ganjmandi incident on Saturday, the source said.
Officially, firecrackers are on the negative import list, but are abundantly available in the open market for use on various festive occasions.
Sources in Gilgit and Rawalpindi said the truck in which the firecrackers were transported along with wheat bags, belonged to a person named Papa Shakeel, who is currently under detention in China.
The truck was cleared by the customs authorities in Gilgit on the request of Shakeel’s partner, Sufi Abdul Aziz, and the Peerzada Clearing Agency, allegedly on documents with misdeclaration, both in terms of quantity and products.
According to sources, the AC customs in Gilgit, Hasan Shah, has been posted at the present position about two months ago. The incumbent collector customs Rawalpindi, Wadood Khan, was earlier suspended for six months by the military government, when he was collector customs, Lahore, on charges of corruption and inefficiency.
The efficiency of the customs staff in performing their duty is reflected by the smuggling on the Sust-Rawalpindi route which has rendered legal imports uncompetitive in the local market, the sources said. In Rawalpindi, China Market and Bara have become distribution centres of Chinese products of all range and varieties.
Local traders claimed that illegal goods were transported from Sust to Rawalpindi on fake documents, but the authorities failed to take any action.
In February this year, 28 people were killed in a similar accident when a blast occurred in a container loaded with explosives at Sambrial dryport near Sialkot.
According to anti-terrorism experts, the unchecked smuggling of firecrackers posed a risk to security as the raw material could be used by terrorists to make bombs. By adding shrapnel or nails along with the fuse, the effect of the indigenously- prepared bombs could be deadly. The basic ingredients of improvised bombs are found in regular firecrackers and the device can be made explosive or propellant by altering the composition of different elements.
Markets of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been flooded with firecrackers and other low-intensity explosive material excessively used on marriages, Shab-i-Baraat and other occasions of religious importance.
The sources said bulks of firecrackers were smuggled and imported from China. Similarly, they are also being manufactured locally.
Despite imposition of section 144 CrPC, under which sale and purchase of explosive material and fireworks is banned in twin cities, dumping, sale/purchase and use of firecrackers and explosive material is unchecked.
In addition to major markets, firecrackers and other explosives are freely available at small shops and general stores.
The sources said Narankari Bazaar, one of the busiest trade centres in Rawalpindi, was the biggest market of firecrackers and explosive material. People have also set up their small firecracker factories in the bazaar and dump huge quantities of such items there.