RAWALPINDI, Nov 22: For Tayyaba Hussain Shah, the suicide bomb attack on a mourning procession was a horrible incident as it snatched away her father and two brothers.
It was the second tragedy that visited her family in a span of seven years. In a similar incident at Bari Imam Shrine in June 2005, she lost her grandfather.
Recalling her happy days she spent with her father and brothers the sobbing girl said: “Why terrorists targeted innocent people who came to the procession to fulfill their religious obligations.”
Syed Mushtaq Hussain Shah, 55, Aun Abbas Kazmi, 10, (a mentally disturbed child) and Shabihul Hassan Kazmi, 16, residents of Dhoke Seydan, went to Imambargah Qasar-i-Shahbbir to participate in the procession but never returned.
Mushtaq Hussain, associated with fabrics business at Dheri Hassanabad, has left behind a widow, 16-year-old daughter and nine brothers to mourn his death.
Like Tayyaba, another family also lost two brothers, Syed Tanveer Hussain Shah, 30, and Ziaul-Hassan Shah, 42, sons of Syed Ghulam Haider.
The family members were in a state of shock and not in a position to say anything about the loss they had suffered and all what some of them said was: “It is hard to believe that we have lost our loved ones”.
Syed Qadeer Hussain Shah, the elder brother of the deceased, said Syed Tanveer Shah was not afraid of death. While leaving to participate in the procession he said: “Bhai Jan, you will see soon that I will leave your world and meet with Ali Maula (RA) with smiling face.”
Apart from Shia Muslims, two brothers, Asif Hussain and Adil Hussain, belonging to Sunni sect, also lost their lives in the terrorist attack. Both were motor mechanics and were working at their shops when the suicide bomber blew himself up.
Moving scenes were witnessed at the house of the two brothers. The people at their funeral prayers said that the terrorists were not Muslim and they wanted to create unrest.
So far a total 20 bodies have been handed over to the families. However, two bags, containing body parts, were lying at mortuary of the DHQ hospital. “The body parts will remain there till their identification,” said DHQ Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Sher Ali Khan.
He said that eight injured were still in the hospital. Of them four, including a nine-year-old Rizwan Shah, were in critical condition and in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He said 33 people with minor injuries were allowed to go home.