Terror causes panic in City
By: Rana Latif
LAHORE - Panic gripped the City soon after the bomb
blast targeting the City police headquarters, Rescue 15 Centre and
nearby located ISI office at the Sharay Fatima Jinnah, commonly
known as Queens Road, at 10:25 am.
The horrifying sound of the blast caused by about 160 kilogram
explosive material shock and jolted the people and caused extensive
damage to the buildings, vehicles, shops and structure within one-kilometre
radius of the site. The windowpanes of the nearby Ganga Ram Hospital
were smashed, as the Rescue 15 Centre was flattened along with a
nearby petrol pump while the headquarters of the City Police and ISI
office were partially damaged.
The windowpanes and doors of the Habib Bank and Alfalah buildings,
Plaza Cinema, 90 Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, provincial offices of the
Red Crescent, Nawa-i-Waqt and Khabrain offices and shops at Shahrah-e-Fatima
Jinnah and Chairing Cross were also damaged. Similarly, the glasses
at the Wapda House were also no exception.
The fear and fright also resulted in closure of the St Anthony
School four days which is located about 100 meters from the site of
blast at the Lawrence Road. It is worth recalling that the school
had undergone same ordeal and damage in the terrorist attack on the
FIA Building, as it is situated just opposite of the federal
agency’s building at the Temple Road. Other schools and colleges in
the provincial capital, particularly those in the vicinity, were
also closed down after the attack.
Not far away, at the Mozang and Temple Road frightful people came
out in the streets, while women were seen crying and running as fast
as they could to reach the schools to bring their children back
home. People continued to throng the Plaza Chowk to see the rescue
operation and removal of debris of the affected buildings. Police
had to make repeated appeals to the people to disperse.
The Sharay-e-Fatima Jinnah and Lawrence Road have been closed for
removing debris of the dilapidated buildings and collecting
evidences from the spot, while vehicular traffic has also been
diverted to other arteries.
Economic activities grind to a halt
By: Ashraf Javed
LAHORE - Business and economic activities across the
provincial capital came to a halt soon after the massive blast
shattered the entire City as various high-level meetings at the
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry were cancelled while the
panicky traders closed down their businesses.
Country’s leading economists were addressing a pre-budget seminar at
the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday morning
when the powerful blast hit the busiest locality of the provincial
metropolis, shattering windowpanes of the multi-storey business
center and confidence of the businessmen.
The blast occurred outside the police emergency service (Rescue 15)
headquarter, situated about half a kilometer away from the LCCI
building, where Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim
and Provincial Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira were expected to
arrive to attend the seminar.
“All the business activities were stopped as huge bomb blast shocked
every one inside the building. We thought that the rooftop of the
LCCI building has caved in,” an employee of the business center
commented.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was scheduled to address the
leading businessmen and industrialists at the LCCI on Wednesday
evening but the management also cancelled this meeting after the
bomb blast, citing security concerns.
The traders in most of the top business centers and commercial
markets closed down their shops immediately after the deadliest
suicide car-blast that rocked the City. The frightened traders at
the Mall Road, Hall Road and other nearby shopping and commercial
centers shut their businesses soon after the deadliest attack while
traffic disappeared from the roads.
Meanwhile, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) while
condemning the suicide attack in the strongest possible terms
demanded of the government to revamp intelligence and security
system in the country.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the LCCI President Mian Muzaffar
Ali, Senior Vice President Tahir Javed Malik and Vice President
Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that blast under the very nose of law
enforcement agencies is a big failure of the security network and is
an eye opener for those who are sitting at the helm of affairs. They
said that special measures are needed to cope with deteriorating law
and order situation as anti-social elements are hell-bent to
destabilize Pakistan for their ulterior motives.
Nawa-i-Waqt building damaged
LAHORE - The building of Nawa-i-Waqt publication
group was damaged in the deadliest suicide bomb blast, which took
place near police headquarters at Shara-e-Fatima Jinnah on Wednesday
morning.
The massive blast shattered most of the windowpanes, glasses and
air-conditioners installed in the Nawa-i-Waqt building, situated at
a stone throwing distance from the place where the terrorists
detonated the explosive-laden vehicle.
Several cars parked in the premises of the building also badly
damaged.
The Nation May 28, 2009 |
