Parachinar tragedy: Father loses third son to terrorism

PARACHINAR: Mehdi Hussain had come to Parachinar from Peshawar on June 22, hoping to celebrate Eid at home, with his family. A day later, his house echoed with cries of mourning when news of his killing in the Turi Market explosion arrived.

“He had gone to the site to help with relief and rescue work when the first explosion occurred,’ 75-year-old Haji Sher Hassan, father of Mehdi, told Geo News. It was then that the second explosion wreaked further havoc in the vicinity, killing Mehdi and his friend among others, said the bereaved man.

Wajahat Hussain, who was wounded in one of the twin explosion that day, said his brother Mujahid Hussain was with Mehdi at the explosion site. He added the two friends died on the spot while he found his wounded self in the hospital after he regained consciousness.

Eighteen-year-old Mehdi was working at their family hotel in Qissa Khwani Bazaar, which he had gotten repaired after it was damaged in an explosion in 2013 in the area. It was the same blast that claimed the life of his elder brother Mumtaz Hussain. After Mumtaz’s death, Mehdi was looking after the hotel affairs in Peshawar, while his wife and daughter were living with his family in the Kurram Agency city.

The twin blasts that shook Parachinar yet again took place on June 23, when the area was packed with people preparing for Eid that was due after a few days.

Mehdi’s death was not the first such tragedy that struck Sher Hassan and his family. He has earlier lost two other sons to terrorism.

Before Mumtaz and Mehdi, Sher Hassan’s 17-year-old son Sajjad Hussain was killed in a terrorist incident, 10 years back. But the man feels pride in acknowledging the fact that his sons were not killed while doing something wrong, illegal.