In the midst of the Manchester arena terror attack on Monday night, a group of taxi drivers of Pakistani-origin made their community proud. These taxi drivers were as usual in touch through a closed group called “Taxi Trade Union” on WhatsApp mobile application.
They not only informed their colleagues about the incident, but also invited each other to help the shocked and frightened attendees of the unfortunate music concert. Kalimullah, a black cab driver, said that he was outside the Manchester arena when he heard a huge sound like a bang and felt like something fell down.
“That was the moment of blast as he recalls,” he said. At once, “a wave of people started rushing out of the narrow exit of the arena,” he said, adding that individuals of all age groups were shouting for help when coming out. It was chaotic situation all of a sudden, he said. As he saw few individuals in partially ripped clothes, he said he assumed that something happened inside the arena.
Abdul Jabbar, another cab driver, informed the group about his suspicions that something was not right at the arena. Instantly, another group member who was outside the main town centre at the moment informed the group about all kinds of police vehicles heading towards town centre. Kalim, who was the immediate witness to the incident, got his first passengers and informed his colleagues, taxis needed, come on people, help people!
Kalim told Pakistan Today that he did multiple rounds of taking people safely home. He dropped people as far as 30 miles away. He repeatedly kept coming back to fetch more people till early morning. His colleagues did the same with their passengers. “We did not charge anyone, we belong to Manchester and Manchester belongs to us. It was our responsibility to take people home safely as this is what our job is,” he said.
“Wherever I was dropping people, their loved ones were waiting for them on their front doors and as soon as they saw them coming out of my cab, they were crying and thanking me. I felt it was the best payment one could ever get,” he said. It is observed that normally in incidents of this magnitude, people stay away as far as they can, but these Mancunian Heroes kept coming back to help people.
“Every time, I dropped someone home, I was rushing back to help more people. They were running on roads away from arena as they thought that there might be terrorists with guns who come out of arena and start shooting indiscriminately. I picked up few terrified individuals from roads. Instead of telling me their destination, they simply told to take anywhere far from here.”
In past, members of the Asian community did come across racial abuse and threats from factions of British nationalists. The Asian community did go through a phase of hatred posed towards them by countable individuals of the British society post 7/7 underground bombings. It is recorded fact that Muslims, especially members of the community of the Pakistani origin, were equally victims of terror attacks in Europe and America.
On every incident, they have helped their societies to fight terror. On Tuesday, a large number of members of the Asian community attended a vigil held across Britain. There are serious concerns amongst British citizens of Pakistani-origin. They are worried that whenever the incidents of such nature occur, fingers do get pointed upon them in the society. Kalim did show his concerns over the matter.
“We are taxi drivers, we are working on the roads and we have to deal with all kind of people. Whenever some incident happens of this kind, we are always worried about our safety,” he said. Yasmine Dar, a Labour Party counsellor at Manchester and Momentum activist said that Manchester was a United City (referring to two famous football teams) against terrorism.
She admired the services of the taxi drivers. “Manchester is all about caring each other,” she said. Manchester is on high alert amid the terrorist attack of Monday night, which took lives of 22 and injured 59. The attacker, 22, is thought to be lone wolf of ISIS. He attended Salford University which is not far from the site of his attack. His parents are of Libyan descent. –RAJA FAISAL