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Student run over by speeding bus on Expressway

* Protesting students block traffic for three hours
* Demand arrest of bus driver, transport facility

By Fazal Sher

ISLAMABAD: The students on Thursday staged a protest demonstration against killing of their fellow in a road accident and blocked the Islamabad Expressway for more than three hours. An unknown speeding bus hit Danish, son of Muhammad Tariq, student of 9th class, Federal Government Higher Secondary School No 1, G-6/1 and a resident of G-6/1-2, near Faizabad on Islamabad Expressway. The driver of the vehicle sped away from the scene leaving Danish in a pool of blood. The passersby shifted him to Shifa International Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, a police official told Daily Times. He said the police had registered FIR against the unknown driver and started investigation to arrest him. The police handed over the body of the victim to his family after completing the legal process. Hearing the news, students from different colleges of Islamabad and Rawalpindi gathered on Islamabad Expressway and started a march towards Zero Point. They blocked the road from I-8 traffic signal to Zero Point for more than three hours. They uprooted signboards of a construction company installed along the Expressway. They were holding placards demanding action against driver of the bus, which hit the student. They also chanted slogans against the district administration. Later, a heavy contingent of police reached the place where students were staging the protest, stopped them from heading toward Aabpara Market and warned them against pelting vehicles with stones. The students demanded that police arrest the driver of the bus and award him an exemplary punishment. They said several students from different colleges and schools of the capital had been killed in such accidents, but the authorities were taking no action against them. They also demanded that the authorities ensure transport facility to the students. The commuters badly suffered due to blockade of the expressway. They strongly criticised the district administration for not settling the issue for a long time. “It was the responsibility of the administration to talk to the students and assure them of arrest of the driver,” they said. The student dispersed when Superintendent of Police (SP) Abdul Ghaffar Qaisarani and the Assistant Commissioner assured the students that they would soon arrest the driver and prosecute him.

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