How a Father's Journey to Bring His Daughter Home from Karachi Turned into a Tragic Tale: The Story of Pakistan's 'Bloody' Highway

My only daughter was the darling of the whole family. We had planned to finalize her engagement on her return from Karachi, but she did not return alive. Instead, her burnt body was brought home," said Haji Sharif Allah, a resident of Quetta, Balochistan, whose four family members were among the 43 people killed in a tragic accident on January 29 on the Quetta-Karachi highway in the district of Lasbela. The accident was one of the major traffic accidents in the history of Balochistan, in which most of the bodies were unrecognizable due to being burnt. Although this accident was a major traffic accident in terms of fatalities, traffic accidents on this highway have become commonplace. Over the past three and a half years, five fatal accidents have occurred on the Quetta-Karachi highway, in which a total of 787 people were killed, and 477 of them were killed on this highway alone. Due to the high number of fatalities in these types of accidents and their consequences, the Quetta-Karachi highway is now also known as the "Bloody Highway.

The discussion about the relationship of the daughter was postponed due to her planned journey to Karachi?

On January 29, in the accident involving a passenger bus, the wife, daughter, and two sons of Haji Sharif were killed. We met with those two children of his at his home, who had miraculously survived the accident.

While talking about his daughter, he said, "My only daughter was the dearest to the whole family. She was going to Karachi with her brothers for the first time. A few days before going to Karachi, people came for her engagement, and I told them that she is going to Karachi with her mother, and we will discuss the engagement upon their return. But now she is no longer in this world."

One of the families affected by the accident on this highway was that of former hockey player Syed Amjad Shah, who was from Quetta.

We went to the house of Amjad Shah, located on Faqir Mohammad Road, who had lost his life in an accident last year in October, along with three other senior players while returning from a hockey trial program for the Prime Minister's Talent Hunt Program on the Karachi-Highway.

The other three former players who died in the accident were Mujahid Islam Butt, Abdul Raheem Durani, and Mir Ali Kurd.

Senior official of the Balochistan Hockey Association, Syed Amin, said that these four players were our assets, who had gone to take part in the trial of hockey players for the Prime Minister's Talent Hunt Program. They were on their way back when their car collided with a truck.

He told that upon returning, their car collided with a truck due to speeding and poor visibility due to fog, resulting in the deaths of all four players.