At least 13 people, including seven children, lost their lives in a tragic pre-dawn incident of a landslide in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Tuesday.
Per details, three shanties on land curved out of a hill in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 1 came under the heap of stones and dust after landslide at around 2:00am. A large number of rescue teams reached there for rescue operation. The officials cannot save a single life because of miscalculation and late arrival of shovels and hoes on the spot.
In a five-hour long operation, the rescue officials recovered 13 dead bodies including seven children and three women from the debris. Later, the dead bodies were moved to Edhi Centre from hospital for transportation to their hometowns in Southern Punjab area of Bahawalpur.
Those who died were identified as Qadeer Ahmad, 30; Rehana, 25; Muqaddas, 6-month; Sadaf, 3; Ahmad, 2; Munir Ahmad, 40; Nasreen Bibi, 33; Saira, 14; Zehra; six year-old; Fatima, 25; Azan three-year-old; Ayan, one and half year-old; and Khurshid Ahmad, 25.
The Edhi spokesperson said that five victims, including three children, were sent to Kadrah area of Khanpur, Punjab, on ambulance while eight others were shifted to Bahawalpur, their hometown. He said that Edhi also managed to send victim's heirs to their native places.
Talking to this scribe, neighbour of the victim families said that before landslide, dust from the hill fell on their shanties. “We came out of our shanties and make hue and cry to awake those who were sleeping in their makeshifts, but we failed in our efforts to save maximum lives,” they added.
They blamed local government authorities for miscalculation and late arrival of shovels and hoes on the spot. They claimed that they started rescue work by themselves when the rescue teams arrived there without heavy machinery. “We tried our best, but we cannot save those who came under the debris,” they maintained.
Talking to journalists, Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui accepted that they could not save a single life because of poor response to this incident. He claimed that rescue officials and volunteers reached the site of landslide timely, but they did not have the machinery to start rescue operation.
He said he made calls to the official concerned to dispatch heavy machinery to the spot to pace up rescue operation, but the machinery arrived late. He assured that an investigation committee would be set up to probe poor response, and stressed for improving response time in such incidents.
East SSP Javed Jiskani claimed that he had received complaints regarding land grabbing in the zone. He said he had contacted the official concerned to ascertain the status of the land where these makeshifts were established. It was a disputed piece of land, he added.
He said an investigation would be conducted to ascertain that weather it was a disaster or a planned conspiracy to get this disputed plot evacuated from the occupants.
HEIRS’ DISCLOSURES
The heirs of the victims claimed that they were used for occupying this piece of land. They said they were brought there for encroachment, and when the occupants got fake documents of the property, they were forced to evacuate the land.
“When we sought time to shift to another location, and refused them to evacuate the land immediately, the land grabber threatened us,” the heirs claimed. “When they felt that we will not evacuate the land immediately, they tried to remove us in this way,” the heirs maintained.
Raising fingers on Karachi Development Authority (KDA) Director Nasir Abbas and DSP Javed, they said both the afore-mentioned officials were involved in this occupation. They demanded of the authorities concerned to extend the circle of investigation and make both the accused part of the probe.