The lawyers, doctors, teachers, students, politicians, humanists and civil society activists are observing a black day today over the loss of dozens of innocent people killed in August 8, 2016 blast.
Bomb blasts, suicide attacks, abductions, targeted killings and kidnapping for ransom are no more breaking news for the people of troubled Balochistan.
On August 8, 2016 at least seventy people were martyred and dozens injured when a suicide bomber blew himself in Sandeman Civil Hospital Quetta, Balochistan. Majority of the martyred were from lawyers community of Balochistan.
According to the official sources a total of fifty four lawyers were martyred in the deadly suicide attack.
On 8 Aug 2016, the lawyers were gathered in civil Hospital in protest against the killing of a senior lawyer who was victimized earlier the same day.
Many lives could have been saved if proper and immediate actions were taken by the government and other concerned authorities as many of the victims were left helplessly on the spot for hours which caused increase in the death toll.
After the deadly tragedy, as usual the government and other authorities promised to bring the culprits to justice, but the promises just remained promises and FIRS and investigations have just become the part of history.
ISIS and Pakistani Taliban Faction Jamaat-Ur-Ahrar had claimed the responsibility of the suicide attack.
“The majority of them [lawyers] belonged to middle-class families and had been educated at institutions of good repute [in Pakistan] or even abroad,” advocate Habib Tahir told the media. “But with one blast, they have all vanished, leaving their families and friends in life-long agony. If you look at their personal lives, you’ll find that they were all in their 40s or early 50s, so they have left behind young families.”
It took decades to make such academically strong and professional lawyers, but just within a blink of an eye Balochistan lost a generation and now it takes more than a half-century to fill the gap.
