LAHORE: Ghazala Hassan had nothing to do with the Special Intelligence Agency (SIA), nor was she a terrorist, but her family paid the ultimate price for living in a house in close proximity to the SIA bureau. Ghazala went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast on Monday – unaware that a suicide bomber was about to strike right next to her house and end her life. As the bomber detonated his explosives, a massive shockwave went across the neighbourhood – shattering windows in a radius of half a kilometre. Of the millions of shattered pieces of glass, one pierced her back. An overflow of blood to the lungs was later described as the cause of death. Ghazala was a resident of the upper portion of 294 K Model Town. “What are they trying to do? Which religion are they preaching? Terrorists have nothing to do with Islam,” says Ghazala’s husband – Hassan Immam, who flew home from a foreign country on Tuesday after being told of his wife’s death. According to him, security agencies in Pakistan have failed to rein in terrorists. “My mother was preparing breakfast when the bomber struck … I ran out of my room and saw my mother coming out of the kitchen in a pool of blood. My heart sank and I thought all is over … but I gathered the strength to rush to my room and call our relatives for help. They came and took both of us to hospital … but it was too late for my mother,” said Ghazala’s eldest daughter – Noor Zara, who was also injured – with tears in her eyes. “I am the eldest of three sisters and a brother … my siblings were in school when our mother passed away.”
hayat umar, Daily Times