Pakistan Red Crescent ambulance staff are attending to multiple laceration injuries. Blood flows freely, and paramedics work to stem bleeding. It’s like the scene from a battle or a bad traffic accident. But there is no panic, and there are no screams.
Every year Shia Muslims in Pakistan, mourning the martyrdom of Mohammad’s grandson at the Battle of Karbala in 680AD, parade through the streets in a ceremony of self-flagellation.
Men and boys swing zanjeer, a string of chains with blades attached, which whip across their bare backs drawing blood. There is literally a red mist raining down on participants and onlookers.
And every year the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) provides first aid support for these processions, deploying ambulances along the routes in cities across the country.
This year’s Muharram mourning culminated with Ashura processions on 20 January. The PRCS deployed 20 ambulances and 43 staff in Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta.
PRCS paramedic Muhammad Rashid was attending his seventh Muharram, providing first aid to people at a procession in Rawalpindi.
“Looking at people with bleeding backs is awful, but it is their choice,” he said.
Rashid works hurriedly as patients line up at the PRCS ambulance, which is besieged by a sea of mourners and onlookers. He washes away the blood, cleans the wounds and applies dressings. Some of the injuries are to legs or faces, where people have caught a swinging zanjeer from an adjacent mourner.
The patients hardly speak a word, never crying out in pain despite their wounds. Some sit shaking and shivering as they are attended to, but there is never a murmur of complaint.
It’s a long day for the PRCS ambulance crews, who follow the processions over a ten-hour stretch. As the day wears on, staff and vehicles become splattered with blood. As they’ve been given the appropriate security clearance, the PRCS crews are in the thick of the processions, giving them direct access to the marchers.
Spectre of violence
Unfortunately, Muharram is historically a focus of sectarian violence. This, combined with the current security environment in Pakistan, meant authorities were on high alert over the weekend.
Tensions were already high following an attack on a mosque in Peshawar on 17 January, which claimed 11 lives and injured 25 people. The PRCS Peshawar branch responded with two ambulances and transported the wounded to local hospitals.
The potential risks are not lost on Rashid, but he simply accepts that that is part of the job.
“While on duty, my family called and told me that security forces had arrested two suspects from a procession in Islamabad. This made me more nervous. I was almost 50 per cent certain that there would be a bomb blast in the procession,” he said.
Likewise, 21-year-old paramedic Kaleem Ahmed admitted to private fears but didn’t let these get in the way of treating patients.
“I gave it (the threat of violence) a thought, but it was our duty so we had to go. “My family didn’t want me to, but I convinced them by explaining that it is my job and that we have a duty to serve in an impartial way,” said Ahmed.
He saw the presence of the Pakistan Red Crescent in the midst of the processions as an important symbol of impartiality and neutrality.
“Our work is to provide first aid to the injured, whether he is a Shia or a Sunni. Whatever he does is his own decision,” he said.
The Pakistan Red Crescent has fleets of ambulances and trained crews in all major cities in Pakistan. They provide emergency first aid assistance; transports wounded to hospitals and are utilized as part of the National Society’s mobile health clinic network.
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Mourners flagellating themselves during the procession in Rawalpindi. (p17101)
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Pakistan Red Crescent paramedic Kaleem Ahmed (left) didn’t let concerns about violence get in the way of doing his job. “We gave it a thought but it was our duty so we had to go.” (p17102)
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Pakistan Red Crescent paramedic Muhammad Rashid attends to a patient. This was the seventh year Rashid had provided first aid at a Muharram procession. (p17103)
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