PAKISTAN: Bomb Survivors Vow to Pursue Taliban Attackers

• by Ashfaq Yusufzai (peshawar)
• Saturday, May 21, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Abdul Wahid, 24, who is undergoing treatment for fractured legs and hands at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, said the attack strengthened his resolve to fight militants.

'It was an act of cowardice to attack innocent soldiers and the general public,' he said.

Wahid was among 800 FC recruits who were just leaving Shabqadar Fort in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when two bombs exploded five minutes apart on the morning of May 13.

Some 100 persons were killed and 80 others injured in the blasts believed to be the handiwork of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The attacks were apparently intended to avenge the assassination of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad May 2.

The blasts destroyed more than a dozen vehicles, levelled as many shops, and targeted the new recruits who were leaving for home after completing a six-month training.

About 30 wounded FC men are still undergoing treatment at the hospital, while 50 had been sent home to recover.

A majority of the recruits belong to poor families who had trained for a low-paying job as soldiers in the FC, a force that supports the police in times of emergency.

The number of FC recruits has risen to 50,000 this year, from only 3,500 six years ago. Meanwhile, the police force has doubled from 35,000 members six years ago to 70,000 in 2011.

Added to the ranks of the police were 15,000 new members recruited this year to fight militants.

Lying on the adjacent bed at the hospital’s orthopaedic ward, Hafiz Tahir Mehmood’s legs are covered with bandages. He said he was angered by the Taliban atrocities and is bent on pursuing them once he recovers.

'I have memorised the Holy Quran by heart. The word fear doesn’t exist in my diary,' Tahir said.

His father Zarbat Khan is equally determined to encourage his 24-year-old son to fight for the safety of the country and the protection of his people.

'I am a small-time shopkeeper but I am a patriot to the core. I would have taken pride in the death of my son, had he died in the attack,' Khan told IPS. 'Now, he is alive and I have asked him to live like a lion because living the life of a jackal is against the Pakhtuns’ culture.' The Pakhtuns are the ethno- linguistic group that inhabits north-west Pakistan.

Attacks on soldiers are not new. A number of police stations, army and FC checkpoints and other installations have been attacked over the years.

According to reports, more than 4,000 soldiers and policemen have been killed in bomb and suicide attacks by the Taliban since 2005. The death toll among civilians is 30,000.

Muhammad Tariq of Peshawar, who has been admitted to the hospital’s surgical ward for abdominal injuries, said he and other recruits were just throwing their bags to the top of the vehicle when he heard a deafening noise. He then saw that his stomach was bleeding profusely.

'I crawled towards a barber’s shop to seek shelter. Five minutes later, another suicide attack had shaken the entire area,' he said.

'We didn’t expect the attacks as we were so happy over the completion of our training. Therefore, we came out of the fort in droves and became exposed to the attackers,' Tariq, 19, said. FC commandant Akbar Khan Hoti has been a daily visitor at the hospital, inquiring about the health of those wounded.

'We are not going to be browbeaten by such attacks. Our morale is high. It is our prime duty to fight terrorism and safeguard the general population,' Hoti told IPS.

Last year, a popular FC Commandant, Safwat Ghayur, was killed in a suicide attack in Peshawar.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa spokesman Mian Iftikhar Hussain told IPS the government appreciated the bravery shown by soldiers in the war against terrorism. 'We are against slavery. We want an independent life while the Taliban are mercenaries and want to demoralise our forces, but they will not succeed and we will end up victorious in this war,' he said.

The government, meanwhile, has raised from 4,000 dollars to 12,000 dollars the compensation to be given the families of those killed.

'I am praying to Almighty God to grant me the courage to fight against the miscreants,' Hazratullah, 24, said. After having sustained minor head injuries in the Shabqadar attack, he said he is desperate to take on the militants as soon as possible.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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