KARACHI: The husband of a woman who last week took six bullets but shielded her children by lying over them during a militant attack said on Saturday he was “proud” of his courageous wife, who, despite being shot, cried out to protect their children.
On December 2, 35-year-old Bulbul Shah, accompanied by his wife Bibi Roshan and their two children Umaima and Arsalan, boarded a bus in his hometown of Ghizer in Gilgit-Baltistan to travel to Karachi where they hoped to begin a new life.
Amid the fanfare, this unsuspecting family could not anticipate they would find themselves in a Karachi hospital a week later, following a harrowing experience immediately after crossing the northern town of Chilas, which has witnessed militant violence in the past.
The bus carrying about 45 passengers came under fire by armed men carrying automatic weapons, killing 10 people and injuring many more. Shah, who had dozed off during the journey by the time of the incident while holding his daughter in his lap, said his 28-year-old wife frantically pushed him from his seat and hid both children under it in the midst of flying bullets.
“Despite being hit by six bullets, she was saying that nothing had happened to her,” Shah told Arab News outside a Karachi hospital where his wife was brought for treatment. “She was just thinking of saving our children. With this spirit, I am proud of her.”
The driver tried to swerve and speed away amid the volley of bullets but was also hit. The bus descended down a slope in the mountainous terrain on its own. Shah recalled how the whole family huddled, bracing for the worst, but the bus came to a halt after hitting a truck.
The attackers escaped after the collision, he said, possibly thinking that the bus was going to catch fire.
“She said, ‘Save the children,’” he continued. “She kept crying, ‘Leave me, nothing will happen to me, just save the children.’”
It was only after the bus stopped that he realized his wife had been shot multiple times and was unable to move her lower body. Even while being driven to the hospital, Roshan never lost consciousness.
“She was asking about the children, asking me to take care of them,” Shah recollected.
He said it was not easy to face the situation that his family experienced.
“In such circumstances, thousands of thoughts come into your mind, making you wonder what will happen to the children if you get shot. Or how will you feel if your children are shot in front of you.”
Shah expressed gratitude to the locals of Chilas, who rushed to the hospital to donate blood and transported the wounded for medical treatment on private vehicles.
He also applauded the doctors for dealing with the emergency situation efficiently, praised the military for providing a helicopter for his family to travel to Rawalpindi, and thanked the Balochistan administration for arranging a plane to transport Roshan to Karachi.
“I always knew she was brave and would act courageously,” he said. “I am immensely proud of her.”
Brave mother of two, who shielded family during militant attack, praised for courage amid adversity
https://arab.news/8qnje
Brave mother of two, who shielded family during militant attack, praised for courage amid adversity
- A group of armed men targeted a bus with 45 passengers near Chilas on Dec. 2, killing 10 and injuring many more
- Bibi Roshan, 28, took six bullets while protecting her family by lying over them until the militant attack was over
Pakistan’s deputy PM says country will not send forces to Gaza to disarm Hamas
- Ishaq Dar says Pakistan open to peacekeeping but Gaza’s internal security is Palestinian responsibility
- Pakistan’s top religious clerics from different schools have warned against sending forces to Palestine
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday Pakistan was willing to contribute to an international peacekeeping force in Gaza, though it would not deploy troops to disarm or de-weaponize Hamas.
The statement follows media reports saying Washington views Pakistan as a potentially significant contributor given its battle-hardened military and wants it to be part of International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is part of United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point framework for a Gaza peace plan.
The plan announced by Trump at the White House on September 29 was formally adopted at the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit in October. Co-chaired by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the summit brought together leaders from 27 countries to sign the “Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity.”
Deployment of troops from Muslim-majority countries during a transitional stabilization phase is a key part of the plan before the war-ravaged Palestinian territory moves toward reconstruction and a longer-term political settlement.
“If they say that we should go and start fighting, disarm Hamas, de-weaponize them, and go and destroy the tunnels that Hamas has built until now, that is not our job,” Dar, who is also the country’s foreign minister, told reporters during a year-end briefing in Islamabad.
He emphasized there was clarity between Pakistan’s civil and military leadership over the matter.
“We have a very complete understanding on this matter that we cannot do that kind of work,” he added.
The deputy prime minister said Pakistan had been using the term “peacekeeping” and had never used the phrase “peace enforcement” while discussing the force.
“I have been very clear: Pakistan will be happy to join if the mandate is not peace enforcement and disarming and de-weaponizing Hamas.”
The government’s stance comes amid growing domestic pressure over the issue.
On Monday, a group of Pakistan’s top religious leaders, chaired by prominent scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani, warned the government against yielding to what they described as international pressure to send forces to Gaza.
In a joint statement from Karachi, the clerics — representing Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahl-e-Hadees and Shia schools of thought — said that Washington wanted Muslim countries to send their forces to Gaza to disarm Hamas.
“Several Muslim governments have already refused this, and pressure is being increased on Pakistan,” it added.
Addressing such concerns, Dar said Pakistan would not land its forces in Palestine to “fight Muslims.”
Israel has repeatedly called for the disarmament of Hamas as a precondition for any long-term settlement, and the United Nations Security Council has also endorsed the ISF framework in November.
However, Dar maintained during the media briefing the internal security of Gaza was the Palestinian responsibility.
“The Palestinian Authority, their government, it is their job, it is the job of their law enforcement agency,” he said
The deputy prime minister also highlighted Pakistan’s involvement in the “Arab Islamic Group of Eight,” including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkiye and Indonesia, which has been coordinating on the crisis.
He said the efforts of these countries had brought some peace to Palestine and reduced bloodshed.
“Our declared policy is that there should be an independent two-state solution,” he continued while calling for pre-1967 borders.
