Author: Ashfaq Yusufzai
Publication: Dawn
Date: June 10, 2004
A minor boy is struggling for life
in a local hospital after he was severely beaten up by his teacher in a
religious school in Swabi district, a doctor informed Dawn.
A resident of Manki village 12-year-old
Adil Raza, was admitted to the orthopaedic ward of the Khyber Teaching
Hospital late on Tuesday night. According to doctors, he was hospitalised
with high temperature and
wounds on his left leg and back.
He was operated upon by doctors
on Wednesday to drain pus from the left leg and back. But the doctors feared
that the child might lose his foot because oflate arrival to the hospital.
"We drained 150mm of pus from his
left leg and back. His temperature runs high due to his infected and pus-filled
wounds," said a surgeon at the ward. The severe beating had damaged his
soft tissues that would take time to heal up. He would also be needing
subsequent operations to drain out pus from his wounds.
Setting beside his bed, his grandmother,
while narrating the woeful tale, said the family had sent the boy to a
religious school situated at a nearby hamlet, Nabi Killey, to help him
learn the holy Quran by heart.
"Raza's father, Zarwali Khan, who
was labourer, is paralysed and bed-ridden for the last four years. Therefore,
we got Raza admitted to the religious school. But we did not know what
was in store for him," she lamented.
"Had we have some money, we would
have enrolled Raza in a public school," she said. She accused that Raza
was beaten up by Qari Shahid, son of Qari Ismail of the same seminary.
The incident took place on May 22, but the family was informed on May 25
and by that time his condition had deteriorated.
The boy was brought home by his
maternal uncle Hussain Ahmad. Mr Ahmad told Dawn that they were extremely
poor and could not bear the cost of legal battles, therefore they had not
registered an FIR.
"Qari Shahid enraged when I failed
to recite the verses learnt by heart. He beaten me up severely and I fell
unconscious, but the teacher continue to hit me on my back," said the innocent
and poor child, Adil Raza in a feeble voice while just recovering from
anaesthesia.
Raza has two elder sisters and a
younger brother, and his ailing father is surviving on charity and Zakat
given to him by neighbours and the local district Zakat committee.
Raza's grandmother said they had
first taken him to a pehalwan who massaged his leg and back, but this worsened
his condition. Then we took him to the district headquarters hospital,
Swabi, three times, but to no avail.
Raza kept weeping because of the
high temperature and pain, she said. Three days ago, Raza was seen by a
local Zakat body chairman who took him to a nearby clinic and the doctor
prescribed him some antibiotics along with pain-killers.
An X-ray film taken out at the clinic
revealed collection of pus in his wounds which the doctor said could not
be treated without operation. Thus Raza landed on Bed No.25 of the orthopaedic
ward of the KTH where the doctors say they are trying to save his left
leg from amputation.
