For Mohammad Arshad, a resident of Para Chinar, Thursday was a normal day like any other day, but around noon he received a sad news that a convoy of vehicles bound for Peshawar had been fired upon. His relatives were on board a convoy bus. When Muhammad Arshad contacted his nephew in the bus through mobile phone, he heard heavy firing from the other side.
Talking to Independent Urdu, Muhammad Arshad recalls that ‘hearing the sound of firing in the mobile phone, I thought that it is impossible for them (relatives) to survive now.’
He said that apart from his daughter and nephew, two sisters were going to Peshawar by bus and their bus was part of this unfortunate convoy.
According to the police, unknown gunmen suddenly opened fire on a convoy of about 200 passenger vehicles in Uach area of Lower Karam district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday, killing 39 people, including three women, and injuring 13 others.
Two women from the family of Muhammad Arshad were also included among the women who lost their lives. His daughter and nephew were injured in the incident.
Mohammad Arshad says: ‘At first the phone was not available. I received the call with great difficulty and by that time my sisters were alive and the children were also fine.
When I spoke to the nephew, he said that the convoy is in Bagan area and firing is being done on the vehicles ahead. He said the vehicles have stopped and cannot go back and forth.’
Muhammad Arshad says that he inquired about the well-being of his daughter and other relatives on the bus and was told that ‘everyone is fine now.’
Mohammad Arshad talked to his nephew caught in the crossfire for about three minutes on the mobile phone, after which the call ended.
‘During the call I was hearing gunshots and thinking that it is not possible for the children to survive.’
After the first call was disconnected, Muhammad Arshad kept on calling the numbers of the relatives in the bus every two or three minutes and every time he got the same answer from the other side saying ‘We are stuck.’
Meanwhile, the offices of Muhammad Arshad district administration were also calling to know the details of the attack on the convoy.
“He was trying to contact the Deputy Commissioner’s office, the DPO office and other police officials, but all their numbers were closed.”
However, after some time when he contacted his nephew who was in the bus again, he said that ‘Our bus left Bagan back to Para Chinar and at that time they had reached Alizai village.’
Muhammad Arshad says: ‘I was relieved to know that my daughter, nephew and sisters are safe.’
However, two female relatives of Muhammad Arshad lost their lives in this incident.
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Mohammad Arshad said with teary eyes: I cannot describe the agony I have gone through. How would your children feel if they were on a bus that was being shot at?’
How was the convoy attacked?
The Karam district administration had decided to partially open the Tilpara Chinar highway on November 8 and allowed passenger vehicles to travel in convoy form surrounded by security vehicles.
About a month ago, 14 people were killed in an accident involving a passenger vehicle in Muqbal area of Upper Kurram, after which Talpara Chinar Road was closed.
To open the highway on November 7, Tori and Bangash tribes marched on foot from Para Chinnar to the same road to clear the road, after which vehicles were allowed to travel for convoy movement.
A convoy was going from Para Chinar towards Peshawar on this highway at around 12 noon on Thursday when unknown persons targeted it.
An eyewitness, Muhammad Amin, told Independent Urdu that apart from buses, other vehicles, flying coaches and motor cars were also included in the convoy.
He said that when they reached there after the attack, dead bodies were seen lying in vehicles, while locals and Rescue 1122 volunteers were taking the injured to the hospital.
Shahid Amin said, ‘My two daughters were trapped in their school in the same area and after about two hours of efforts, the children were safely removed from the school.’
