RAWALPINDI  - Contrary to the Liaquat Bagh gun-and-bomb attack scene, in which PPP’s chairperson Benazir Bhutto along with 24 others were killed in 2007, that was hosed down within hours, the RA Bazaar suicide blast site has not been cleaned despite the passage of four days, sparking unrest among the residents of the locality.
Instead, the LEAs and security personnel cordoned off the suicide blast place by placing concrete blocks and barbed wire. Thick spots of bloods and very small pieces of human flesh could be witnessed on the road. The area people and traders, while talking to The Nation on Thursday, protested against the delay in washing down the crime scene on the part of police and other LEAs.
They said that the bloodstains on road striking on their nerves very hardly. They demanded immediate cleaning of the crime scene. They demanded of the government to compensate the shopkeepers and residents whose shops and properties were damaged in the blast.
Suhail Hassnain, a stationary shop owner at RA Bazaar, lashed out at the government, police and security forces for not hosing down the blast scene where human blood and small pieces of flesh could be witnessed, causing mental stress for the people. He said that the site should be cleaned as all the evidences have been collected by LEAs.
He said that the devastating bombing is already testing the nerves of residents and shopkeepers while the negligence of LEAs and police was tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of area people. “It is worst then terrorism leaving blood and human flesh on crime scene by LEAs,” he shouted.
Hammad Yaqub, whose mobile phone shop was destroyed in the incident, said closure of roads and streets by security forces has made their lives miserable.
“LEAs even blocked road leading towards mosque and people can not for offering prayers,” he said demanding the government to open the roads and streets. A number of shopkeepers have been renovating their shops that destroyed in the blast in which 14 people were killed while 33 injured.
The shopkeepers and residents displayed placards at suicidal attack site which read as “Open entry and exit points leading towards Mohala and mosque” and “We the traders appeal to authority concerned to allow us to open shops and business centers”.
ASP Cantt Circle Capt (retd) Bilal Iftikhar, however, when approached for his comments, said that police were helpless in this regard as the area was being controlled by Pakistan Army.
pHe said that the blast site was cordoned off by security forces and police were not allowed to wash it down.