Gone too soon: A lost gem of PK661 tragedy
KARACHI: On December 6, Ahraar Sirung had posted on Facebook a picture of him standing, his arms stretched as if he was ready to embrace someone, against the backdrop of beautiful snow-capped mountain. He had written a caption that said, ‘When mountains call, you must go’. Little had he known then that the mountains won’t let him go back. The 24-year-old youth was among the 48 people aboard the fateful PIA flight PK661 that crashed on Wednesday in the hills of Gagan near Havelian city, minutes after it took off from Chitral. He was heading to Islamabad to resume work after vacations. Unfortunately, fate decided something else for him. He worked as a trainer with Apex Consulting in the federal capital. He started this job a few years back after graduating from the department of public administration at Karachi University. His real name was Ahtiramul Haq. People knew him by this or the other moniker. “He always wore a smile on his face like he was never perturbed with any kind of difficulties in life,” recalls Hasnain Raza, one of his closest KU friends, with a tremble in his voice. “Who doesn’t have problems? But only a few [people are] brave enough to welcome and bid farewell to them [problems] with their cheeks glowing red.” Ahraar was the younger of two brothers. His father had died earlier while his mother lived in their home in their native town of Chitral. He visited her regularly whenever he could get some time off from work. He was the most beloved in the family and his mother and brother took care of him more than he could himself. According to Hasnain, his aggrieved family is now mourning for their loss. “I still cannot believe that he is gone,” says Hasnain. “To every beep of my mobile phone, I wished that it should be Ahraar, texting me back, saying Jani khair se hun, fikar na kar [Dear, I am fine, don’t worry]. He was no less than a family member to us as well. My mother is crying. He called her Ammi [mother] and used to visit her whenever he was in the city.”–Published in Express Tribune]]>