BAHAWALPUR: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Sirajul Haq lamented that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his visit to Ahmedpur Sharqia on Monday did not announce establishment of a burns unit at the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) even after a disaster in the area.

He was talking to the media on Saturday after his visit to the scene of the oil tanker explosion and inquiring after the injured.

Expressing grief over the incident and the heavy death toll, the JI emir called it a huge tragedy in an area that he claimed was suffering from illiteracy and poverty, the facts that he said had been admitted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also during his visit here.

The JI chief said it was ironic that there was no burns unit, which if existed could have helped many people survive the blast wounds. He appealed to the prime minister to immediately announce the establishment of a burns unit and asked the Supreme Court to take notice of this tragedy, adding that people would not believe in official inquiry outcomes.

He said the administration did not assume responsibility in the wake of the incident and if police had taken action on time so many deaths could have been avoided.

Meanwhile, Jamshed Moghul, a correspondent of a local newspaper based in Ahmedpur East, has been missing since the oil tanker tragedy on Sunday.

Another correspondent from the same area, Akram Chaudhry, claimed Moghul’s brother told him that his brother had not been traced so far.

Senator Nuzhat Sadiq of the PML-N visited those injured in the blast at BVH and said the chief minister was seized of the issue and looking after the affairs arising out of the tragedy.

BURNS: A 35-year old woman suffered serious burns in a gas cylinder explosion at village 139/DB on Saturday.

Rehana Bibi, who was cooking, suffered over 50 per cent burns and was shifted to BVH where her condition was stated to be serious.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2017