• Massive explosion damaged many homes near Chaman railway crossing, making them ‘unsafe’ to live in
• Administration forms body to assess damage and formulate compensation measures
QUETTA: After a powerful bomb explosion that targeted a shuttle train at the Chaman railway crossing in the provincial capital, residents of the nearby Faqirabad neighbourhood have been forced to relocate due to extensive damage to their homes.
Faqirabad is a densely populated area in downtown where working and middle-class families reside. The Sunday bombing left more than 70 per cent of the houses damaged, besides destroying the electricity infrastructure, due to which the area has been without power for the past 48 hours.
“We have been without internet, electricity, gas, and water for the last 48 hours,” a resident, Haji Muhammad Nawaz, told Dawn, lamenting that not a single minister or other official visited Faqirabad.
Several residents received injuries after the bomb blast shattered their windowpanes and caused the walls and roofs of the houses to collapse. Only two people from the area lost their lives in the incident, including Khalid Javed. Mr Javed lived in an apartment at the top of the building. Due to the blast, the wall of the apartment collapsed on him and his family – he died in the incident while three family members were injured. “The wife and two children are under treatment in the hospital,” a resident, Noman Ali, told Dawn.
A housing colony for senior and junior government employees, located in the same area, was also badly affected. The residents were also forced to relocate after their houses were damaged in the blast and declared unsafe.
At least 75-80 houses have been damaged in the blast, including 25 houses that were completely destroyed, said Khurram Paracha, a resident of the colony. He said some people were injured in the explosion, but fortunately, no deaths were reported.
Meanwhile, railway workers removed the damaged bogies and locomotive from the site and also repaired the damaged railway track; however, the Jaffar Express services remained suspended in the wake of the suicide blast.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti also chaired a high-level security meeting in Quetta to review the law and order situation and assess the initial investigation report presented by IG Police Balochistan.
Committee formed
The Quetta deputy commissioner constituted a damage assessment committee to evaluate losses. The body was directed to submit a comprehensive report on the damages at the earliest, based on which further action and compensation measures would be finalised.
Meanwhile, DC Mehrullah Badini met the families affected by the explosion. In the meeting, he assured the victims that their losses would be compensated on a priority basis and directed the relevant departments to address the issues being faced by the affected families without delay.
