Over 30 injured in kite-flying incidents

RAWALPINDI: More than 30 people, including women and children, were brought to different hospitals with bullet injuries, fractures, wounds and cuts they received during kite flying-related incidents on Friday. The city areas reverberated with the sounds of gunfire throughout the day, particularly in the vicinities of sensitive installation such as the Nur Khan Airbase and the Benazir Bhutto International Airport. One of the injured being treated at the District Headquarters Hospital was stated to be in a critical condition. The emergency police services were flooded with phone calls with citizens demanding action against those flying kites and opening fire in jubilation during the Basant festivals despite a ban imposed by the government. The areas where the police seemed helpless in checking kite flying and implementing the ban included Jhanda Chichi, Dhoke Chiraghdin, Dehri Hassanabad and Railway Colony near Ammar Chowk. “I can hear very clearly the sound of gunshots fired by kite flyers as some people could be seen even on the rooftops of the hospital building,” a police official told Dawn from Benazir Bhutto Hospital. Rehana Hameed, 18, was passing through Raja Bazaar when she was hit by a stray bullet believed to be fired by kite flyers. She and little Hijra were among the 10 persons who received injuries after stray bullets hit them. “I along with my family was sitting on the rooftop of my house in Dhoke Ratta when my younger daughter Hajra, 10, started screaming with pain as a bullet hit her. As she was taken to the District Headquarters Hospital, the doctors confirmed that she had been hit by a stray bullet,” said Sajid Mehmood, the father of the girl. Esha Asif, 8, a resident of Morgah, and Raheela Hussain, 12, of Hazara Colony were among the victims of gunshots who were brought to the DHQ Hospital. “My niece was cooking meal in the kitchen of her house at Hazara Colony when a stray bullet hit her in the foot,” Saddique Ahmed said. He said the whole Hazara Colony was reverberating with the sounds of gunshots but the police were watching the incidents helplessly. He said people were seen firing gunshots from the rooftops of their houses to celebrate Basant. Besides the 10 people who sustained bullet injuries, scores of others were brought to the hospitals with injuries, cuts and wounds they sustained after falling from rooftops while flying kites. Arslan Ahmed, 25, was brought to the Holy Family Hospital with deep cuts he suffered when a kite string hit him on the road. And three other victims injured in similar incidents were brought to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital.