Arif Iqbal Faruqui, who lost his wife and 3 children in the brutal plane crash of PIA Flight 8303, has turned his trauma into the mission of saving others. The unfortunate plane had taken off from Lahore and was destined for Karachi but unfortunately crashed into a populated area near the runway.
22 May 2020. Like everyone else, it was an ordinary day for Arif. He knew his wife and kids were going to Karachi but didn’t know that they were going forever. He dropped them at the airport like a routine. Like every Pakistani, he trusted the airline with his family to take them to their destination safely.
While he was expecting a call about their safe arrival, Arif instead received news of the crash.
It felt like the whole world had stopped. I was in shock. Even when the call was disconnected I kept standing where I was for 5 minutes. But by that time I had accepted that they were no more.
Arif went to the morgue with his brother-in-law but it wasn’t working properly. Bodies were lying everywhere on the floor due to a shortage of space and families were shown photos and asked to recognize their loved ones. Arif went inside and had to check each and everybody looking for his wife and kids.
I identified my wife through a ring that I had given her one night earlier. That was not a pleasant sight, not something I wanted to do but I was supposed to do that.
After that, he started looking for his kids but the bodies were so charred and disfigured that he couldn’t identify them. Blood and puss were everywhere and the smell was unbearable. A guy from Edhi helped him identify his eldest daughter and she was found covering her face with her arms. Arif recognized her from her way of wearing dupatta and her bracelets. For the identification of his other 2 kids, he had to wait for DNA reports.
By this time, Arif had converted his pain into a mission. Despite having his family buried, he stayed in Karachi for another 2 months and helped the families of other victims. He started volunteering and became a social activist. He created a separate system where people from the same group became volunteers and started helping others.
I didn’t want others to go through the trauma I was going and that helped me deal with my own trauma. It helped them heal too. I kept crying for 40 nights, tears would be running out of my eyes but my hands kept typing.
Today, almost a year has passed since the tragedy but the wounds of it are still fresh. After helping others deal with the tragedy, Arif is raising his voice for the introduction of reforms in Pakistan International Airlines and restructuring of the whole Aviation Industry.
After burying his loved ones, Arif had vowed to bring people responsible for the demise of his family and all other victims of the crash, to justice.
Recently he called out the authorities again when an Islamabad bound flight narrowly escaped an accident with Federal Minister Asad Umar on board.
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