Ashura blast victims get on with life

Mohammed Ammar Bin Yaser

Karachi Jan 31: Shabbar Zaidi (12) wears prosthetic leg. “My doctors says it is a strong foot that will never hurt me again” he said with a wane smile.

On December 28, Zaidi, accompanied with his parents and younger sister, went to attend the main Ashura Juloos at M.A. Jinnah Road. His father and little sister died on the spot when the bomb exploded. His mother was lucky enough to escape unscathed as she was a few yards behind, in the women contingent.

‘I don’t remember anything; I just heard a bang and saw some dark clouds’ said Zaidi, who was brought to the hospital unconscious with his right kneecap missing.

The explosion on the Ashura procession killed 46 and injured 44 people. Police arrested 3 men belonging to a banned extremist organization who said to have confessed to the planning of the attack.

‘I wanted to become a cricketer like Shoiab Akhter but now I want to become a doctor’ shares Zaidi. The 12 year kid limps around his house as his 32 years old widowed mother cooks in the kitchen.

Ambreen, his mother, teaches at a neighbouring school. She was married to Zaidi’s father 13 years ago. ‘He was a nice man’ she says in faltering words as tears roll down her eyes.

When asked how she coped with this life-altering tragedy she motioned heavenward and said‘Allah gives limitless patience and perseverance to his slaves to cope with the unimaginable’