Six years after the suicide bombing of August 8, 2016 in Quetta, the scene at the court is like any other. Lawyers dressed in black go about as normal. Common men and women wait, in anticipation of the court decisions. The lawns are manicured and the court building reflects age and character. But the memory of death, no less than 70, gory sight of blood and sense of terror lies under this façade of calm and quiet.
The blast on the morning of August 8, 2016, wiped out a chunk of the local lawyers’ community. It created a vacuum among the fraternity that would take years to fill.
Fifty three year old Muhammad Arshad Aziz, sitting on a bench inside the court premises, recalls the day he lost his brother. He got the tragic news about the attack on former Bar Council President Bilal Kasi on the phone. Kasi was targeted and killed outside his residence on Quetta’s Huda Mano Jan Road that day. The right side of Kasi’s head was severely injured from bullets.
The news shocked the lawyers’ community, and they started collecting at the Civil Hospital on MA Jinnah road in solidarity with their senior colleague. Soon after journalists on duty to cover the incident joined them.
As Arshad Aziz was about to exit the hospital’s emergency ward, he heard a loud blast – that to his utter shock killed 70 and wounded 120 people, a majority of them lawyers. The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamatul Ahrar group and Islamic State claimed the suicide bomb blast.
“There was just a wall between me and the blast site. I felt a burst of pain in my head before fainting,” recalls Aziz. When he gained consciousness, he could only see blood and dead bodies around him. Men were trying to rescue their relatives and identify the bodies. “I started searching for my brother Ashraf. I found him. He was covered in blood but alive,” he says.
“I go to the graveyard regularly to talk to Arthur. I share my problems with him. It makes me feel at peace.”
Aziz’s brother, Ashraf Sulehri, a lawyer by profession, died at the trauma centre of the Combined Military Hospital later that day. Ashraf left behind his widow, four daughters and a son. “Ashraf wasn’t only a brother, he was a friend. We miss him. We did not get justice,” he says Aziz.
Female lawyer Andaleeb, who was present at the hospital, survived the attack but sustained injuries that healed after a long treatment. “Just when I stepped out of the emergency room after seeing Kasi’s dead body, the suicide bomb exploded. “I guess I was only a couple of feet away from the suicide bomber.”
In a state of severe trauma, Andaleeb couldn’t recall the ghastly incident of August 8 for almost four months. “It all flashed back to me when a family member gave me my mobile phone. I went through the photos… and the tragedy came alive.”
More than 40 ball barring injured her. “Some of them are still in my body,” she adds. Despite the trauma, Andaleeb has not given up her profession.
Sunaina Arthur was expecting her second child when she lost her husband in the attack. They had been married for only a year and a half. “I got to know about the incident on TV. I called my brother-in-law and he said that he couldn’t find Arthur,” she says.
When Arthur was brought home, “he was dead and his one arm was missing,” she adds.
Sunaina suffered trauma during pregnancy. Doctors told her that her child may not survive. “Thank God, my baby survived.” She is currently working as teacher to support her children. “I go to the graveyard regularly to talk to Arthur. I share my problems with him. It makes me feel at peace.”
The exterior of an old, three-storey building on the MA Jinnah Road in Quetta is covered with a poster that has images of Saleem Butt and his nephew Nasir, two lawyers who were killed in the August 8 attack.
“I became numb when I couldn’t get in touch with Saleem,” says Azeem, Saleem’s brother. “I looked for him among the dead people. I found Nasir’s body on a stretcher. The dead bodies of Saleem and Nasir were brought home later.”
“I became numb when I couldn’t get in touch with Saleem,” says Azeem, Saleem’s brother. “I looked for him among the dead people. I found Nasir’s body on a stretcher. The dead bodies of Saleem and Nasir were brought home later.”
Saleem has left behind a widow, five sons and two daughters, while his nephew Nasir left behind a widow, a five-year-old years son and an eight-year-old daughter.
Saleem’s widow says, “Our world is empty. I can only pray to Allah for sabr”.
The report of the Supreme Court inquiry commission led by Justice Qazi Faez Isa exposed failures of the country’s counterterrorism and counter-insurgency strategies. The commission continuously worked for 56 days to finalise the report. After examining concerned persons and obtaining responses from all relevant ministries, departments and institutions, “the monumental failure to combat terrorism and perform basic protocols emerged,” the report states.
The report states that forensic tools were not used to trace the perpetrators of terrorist attack, instead rudimentary methodologies were used to examine the crime scene. Another monumental failure identified in the report was the failure to control extremist literature and propaganda. “There has been a complete failure in producing and then disseminating a counter narrative…” states the report.
