Ojri Camp incident

Arts & Culture Culture, Arts, Literature & Linguistics
1

ehsan’s post about the '65 war inspired me to write this incident, it’s not actually a war post but somehow related to it, as fate played a wicked game with us, thinking we are being bombed by India :o

For those who live in the capital might know that there was this Army warhead warehouse in the middle of the twin city. For some reasons that stock of arms, bombs, shells exploded, firing the shells and bombs in all directions, making it feel likea at first, we’re being attacked from above.

Here is my recall:

"From what I recall it was a sunny winter morning in Islamabad. I was sitting in my 8 class classroom and writing a urdu exam paper. The exam was hard, as I hardly spoke and wrote urdu at the time, I was sitting and looking at the paper, hoping the exams would be over soon and we would go to other subjects, those were entirly in english.

Halfway through the period, I think God heard my prayer, there is a slight shaking of the classroom, the big window shook and a slight ‘boooom’ sound was heard, everyone got suprised and looked around at eachother, then thinking its maybe nothing, soon the girls went back to their paper. Few seconds again, the same sound and shaking, this time even louder and again and again, the shaking of the class and the windows, all the time with loud sounds around us.

This time everyone stopped dead, there was this terrible silence in the classroom, then the teacher got up and went outside, she came back and told us to gather outside. Outside the girls were getting gathered in the back ground of the school, at that time I noticed that there are bombs in the sky flying in one direction, each time making a loud sound as they pass over us. Many bombs are flying, there is some panic on the air, some even think we are being invaded. I remember not being scared, but anxious as to what is happening, everyone seemed disiplined and stayed together and watching this cloud of smoke in the distance horizont of the city.

Soon, the parents, drivers start to arrive with their cars to pick up their kids, by now the bombing was slowly decreasing. Soon my abbu arrives with my brother, my sister and I go to him and feel relieved to see him. Back at home, ammi was worried about us, she takes us in her arms as we arrive. It was good to be at home, we feel safe now.

Later we found out, there was a explosion in the Ojri (sp.) camp, that made the stock of bombs fly over the city, some even died as the bombs fell over them in their cars, homes. Luckily, they didn’t explode as they touched the ground, as it would have caused even more casualities.

We used to drive past that camp on muree road everytime we would visit our grandparents, having such a dangerous camp in the middle of the city, was a irresonsible thing to do, now, its no more there, but maybe somewhere else, who know …

2

That must have been scary. :eek: Especially as a kid.

3

I wonder who named it 'ojri camp'.

I was kid back then. Saw it all on tv. tragic incident.

4

i also experienced it, only that somebody around me was saying Israel attacked. :smack2:

5

LOL @ Israel attacked.

Ojri Camp is an odd name, I agree.

Umer, it was scary for a moment, not knowing what is happening!

:)

6

I was in Lahore at that time, had just moved to a hostel. Heard the news and I tried calling home desperately but all lines were down for a while. I was finally able to talk to my parents at 8 or 9 pm. What a tragic accident.

7

My house is very close to Ojhri Camp, and I was school at that time it started, in Islamabad. I think I was 7 at that time. We were out on the ground when we started hearing the explosions (even though they were not fused, so they did not go explode at impat, fortunately). All the children were taken into this classrooms for shelter, which was a bad idea since reports came in that the Pindi Branch got hit, and the roof collapsed with alot of children inside. We waited till 4pm in school, when my parents finally came to pick me up. While going home, towards Ojhri camp, the damage was evident. Bodies could be seen in cars, demolished houses etc. Shiekh Rashid thought India had attacked, and was going somewhere in his jeep with some people, armed. My uncle's (chachoo's) apartment got hit, but luckily nobody was inside, as he himself was at work, and my aunt spent her day in our house. The first reaction of many citizens was that India had attacked. This was during the height ofthe Afghan conflict, with Pakistan about to sign the Geneva accords four days later. Others argued that the Soviets had attacked Pakistan to teach the country a lesson. This did not stop on the first day, some missiles went off even after a few days. After 6 days I remember a bunch of army people coming to the park infront of our house to retreive one, that went off a little later than the others. Later it was found that apart from the damage due to missiles, alot of people took advantage of the chaos, and there were cases of robberies, loot-mar, rape etc as well. Khaqan Abbasi's burnt down car which got hit by one of the missiles could be seen even after a month on Murree Road. I heard his son went into a coma, and they put him on life support, and he just died recently in coma after all these years on support.

By far the most tragic thing that happened in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. PM Junejo called for an inquiry, but was removed from office by President Zia (who was clearly responsible for this mess). Surprisingly, both General Gul and Akhter went unpunished, and the PM lost his job for ordering an inquiry.

8

Spock, thanks for giving an account of the events, very informative and familiar. I remember seening a missile in our street in someone's garden, the army came to fix it, luckily it didnt explode on spot, like some did even few days after.

I've also heard of people dying of missiles falling over them, quite tragic as it did effect quite the whole twin city. I remember also seeing the demolished houses and broken windows near the camp few days after.

So thats why Janejo lost his seat, I even saw the person in real as a kid.

I'm unfamiliar with these two people, Shiekh Rashid & Khaqan Abbasi.

9

No such thing as the web, I remember having to wait till the 5pm news. The whole story wasn’t clear till the next morning’s newspapers. Headlines described it as qyamat-e-sughra. It was indeed a grisly scene.

10

Apparantly, in the 80s an american plane was shot down over Iran. When the wreckage was analysed, it was found to have been shot down by an american stinger missile. That got the americans thinking and they concluded that the only place in the region with these missiles was Pakistan. So they decided to audit the ammonition stores in pk. But a few days b4 the auditors arrived, the ojhri incident occurred.

The Gens of that time are said to have made millions out of arms sales.

11

^ Yeah thats what ive heard too. The Ojri incident was no accident. The americans had supplied Pakistan with ****loads of ammunition to help the afghans kick russian ass, half of which never made it into afghanistan but was sold to other countries. They had to get rid of their surplus.

12

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by World Citizen: *
No such thing as the web, I remember having to wait till the 5pm news. The whole story wasn’t clear till the next morning’s newspapers. Headlines described it as qyamat-e-sughra. It was indeed a grisly scene.
[/QUOTE]

The Government was in disarray about the whole situation too. It was at 6pm that finally Radio Pakistan announced that shells and rockets at Ojhri went off. Alot of people at that time also thought that something bad happened at Kahuta. There are different views about what happened inside Ojhri camp too. A few days ago, a fire broke out inside one of the rooms, but the guard risked his own life to take it out. They said that the most likely cause was a small fire which caused an injury of 3 people inside. The guards over there were busy getting those 3 people treatment, and did not pay much attention to the fire that spread out. Ofcourse, the findings of the inquiry were never made public, so we have no idea what really happened inside Ojhri Camp.

Saadia, where did you live when this happened? Shiekh Rashid is a pretty famous politician in Pakistan, hes an MNA right now (from the Rawalpindi area) and the information minister at present I guess. Khaqan Abbassi was also a famous politician. Right now Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, his son has become a famous politician too, during the Nawaz regime, he was incharge of PIA.

13

I was in Taxila at the time. I think we heard the news around 9/10 am and tried to take the university bus to Islamabad. We were told that the traffic towards Islamabad has been stopped, so me and my friend decided to hike over the margallas and reach Islamabad that way. It took us about 5-6 hours to cross over and reach gloRa and then another hour to reach the house. My house was not hit alhamdolillah, but the vacant house to our right had was hit by two missles. Then later on the army guys found a few in the barren area to our left. All the females of our street had gathered in one house, my mother had taken our dog along as well. That house was hit but all the women were saved. We had one more house in our street that was hit. I remember that there were a few more explosions in the evening and some more the next day.

The situation was chaotic, jitnay moo utni bataiN. We initially heard that the attack was at Kahoota or Nilor. I panicked when someone told me that the telephone exchange in F-8 blew up as that was very close to my house, it was then that we decided to hike over the margallas.

14

i still remember the day very clearly, we were at school at the time and it was only the first period and it was English i think. Our home was in F-8/4 and school on the main Nazimuddin road in F-8/1. I was in class 1 i think and must have been around 6-7. our class room was on the 1st floor and the teacher was standing right in front of the window which also had an exhaust fan, all of a sudden there was a bang and with the shockwave the exhaust fan fell onto the teacher's head, but she moved quick enough and didnt get hurt bad. within moments there was panic and all teachers ran out of the classes to find out what it was. by now there were loud noises coming from all directions, bangs, crashes, thuds but no one had any idea what was going on. like very disciplined and organized schools we were all told to make queues and get to the ground floor, for some time all kids were assembled on the ground floor at the back of the bldg, and when after a while the panic settled we were allowed to play in the ground in front. we had no idea what it was, whatever, it was way more fun than normal days when at that time we were in class, this day was fun, we were playing! i remember the weather was slightly cloudy and after a while when we were playing more explosions were heard and i clearly remember somethings flying over our heads in the sky right above us and over our school, they were rockets of some sort i think...and they made those jet like noises...but we didnt realize what flying rockets over the head meant. a few kids started crying. we were called into the bldg again. the school gates were locked and no one was allowed to leave. the tecahers calle dup parents to pck their kids up. My mom used to be a teacher in my school at the time and was the vice principal, and my home was at walking distance. the principal's kids were at another school so she left in her car to pick them up from their school leaving my mom in charge. in no time ppl began arriving and picked up their kids. i remeber the stuff ppl were saying, like a few of you gus have mentioned, many thought it was the Afghanis, some said Russians have finally struck. a lot of teachers had tough times crying, comforting each other,making phone calls and learning this area had a rocket strike, this place was struck and so on...my science tecaher Ms Asia, was really in bad shape, she had called some place and had learned there had been a rocket strike near her area. Luckily her home and family remained safe.
But a LOT didnt!
later when we got home our grandmother (naani) was there alone and she had had quite a horrible time all alone. no one had mobile phones back then and she cpuldnt connect to the school number as it was constantly busy, my dad was out of his office, he used to be at the Parliament house at the time. she was visiting so want that familiar with neighbors too. my younger brother who was around 3-4 then, on getting home aksed our naani "aap mari nahin!?" that was hillarious! we still have a good laugh at it when evre we remember the time, he mustve been confused hearing the bangs and ppl getting scared and talking of injries and deaths etc so he mustve thought everyone was supposed to die!
afterwards heraing the stories and news we learned what the incident really was...it was horrible...for days the army kept moving in the city looking for undetonated explosives possibly lying around anywhere, and there were a lot of cases of things blowing up many months later too. tht day apart from the bombs there were a lot of kidnaps, rapes, thefts robberies too...many schools made mistakes in panic opening up the gates letting out the students on their own...that was horribly wrong...i pay huge credit to our school for handling iot all too well. i heard of a girl running out of the school in panic and being hit by a rocket in the back and her body in 2 pieces lying on the road...Khaqan Abbasi died and his son's coma lasted so many years, and he died not long ago.
we still dont know the exact story...many theroies sound true but we may never know...May those who died that day be blessed!

15

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Haris Zuberi: *
i still remember the day very clearly, we were at school at the time and it was only the first period and it was English i think. Our home was in F-8/4 and school on the main Nazimuddin road in F-8/1. I was in class 1 i think and must have been around 6-7. our class room was on the 1st floor and the teacher was standing right in front of the window which also had an exhaust fan, all of a sudden there was a bang and with the shockwave the exhaust fan fell onto the teacher's head, but she moved quick enough and didnt get hurt bad. within moments there was panic and all teachers ran out of the classes to find out what it was. by now there were loud noises coming from all directions, bangs, crashes, thuds but no one had any idea what was going on. like very disciplined and organized schools we were all told to make queues and get to the ground floor, for some time all kids were assembled on the ground floor at the back of the bldg, and when after a while the panic settled we were allowed to play in the ground in front. we had no idea what it was, whatever, it was way more fun than normal days when at that time we were in class, this day was fun, we were playing! i remember the weather was slightly cloudy and after a while when we were playing more explosions were heard and i clearly remember somethings flying over our heads in the sky right above us and over our school, they were rockets of some sort i think...and they made those jet like noises...but we didnt realize what flying rockets over the head meant. a few kids started crying. we were called into the bldg again. the school gates were locked and no one was allowed to leave. the tecahers calle dup parents to pck their kids up. My mom used to be a teacher in my school at the time and was the vice principal, and my home was at walking distance. the principal's kids were at another school so she left in her car to pick them up from their school leaving my mom in charge. in no time ppl began arriving and picked up their kids. i remeber the stuff ppl were saying, like a few of you gus have mentioned, many thought it was the Afghanis, some said Russians have finally struck. a lot of teachers had tough times crying, comforting each other,making phone calls and learning this area had a rocket strike, this place was struck and so on...my science tecaher Ms Asia, was really in bad shape, she had called some place and had learned there had been a rocket strike near her area. Luckily her home and family remained safe.
But a LOT didnt!
later when we got home our grandmother (naani) was there alone and she had had quite a horrible time all alone. no one had mobile phones back then and she cpuldnt connect to the school number as it was constantly busy, my dad was out of his office, he used to be at the Parliament house at the time. she was visiting so want that familiar with neighbors too. my younger brother who was around 3-4 then, on getting home aksed our naani "aap mari nahin!?" that was hillarious! we still have a good laugh at it when evre we remember the time, he mustve been confused hearing the bangs and ppl getting scared and talking of injries and deaths etc so he mustve thought everyone was supposed to die!
afterwards heraing the stories and news we learned what the incident really was...it was horrible...for days the army kept moving in the city looking for undetonated explosives possibly lying around anywhere, and there were a lot of cases of things blowing up many months later too. tht day apart from the bombs there were a lot of kidnaps, rapes, thefts robberies too...many schools made mistakes in panic opening up the gates letting out the students on their own...that was horribly wrong...i pay huge credit to our school for handling iot all too well. i heard of a girl running out of the school in panic and being hit by a rocket in the back and her body in 2 pieces lying on the road...Khaqan Abbasi died and his son's coma lasted so many years, and he died not long ago.
we still dont know the exact story...many theroies sound true but we may never know...May those who died that day be blessed!
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Khaqan Abbasi's story is very tragic. He died, and his son was put on life support, and he passed away in 2002 I think. Imagine, 14 years on life support. Haris, I was on Nazimuddin Road too, when this incident took place, in school and was exactly your age too. Check your PM.

16

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Spock: *

The Government was in disarray about the whole situation too. It was at 6pm that finally Radio Pakistan announced that shells and rockets at Ojhri went off. Alot of people at that time also thought that something bad happened at Kahuta. There are different views about what happened inside Ojhri camp too. A few days ago, a fire broke out inside one of the rooms, but the guard risked his own life to take it out. They said that the most likely cause was a small fire which caused an injury of 3 people inside. The guards over there were busy getting those 3 people treatment, and did not pay much attention to the fire that spread out. Ofcourse, the findings of the inquiry were never made public, so we have no idea what really happened inside Ojhri Camp.

Saadia, where did you live when this happened? Shiekh Rashid is a pretty famous politician in Pakistan, hes an MNA right now (from the Rawalpindi area) and the information minister at present I guess. Khaqan Abbassi was also a famous politician. Right now Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, his son has become a famous politician too, during the Nawaz regime, he was incharge of PIA.
[/QUOTE]

I was in School at the time it happpened, it was the girl BHS branch near Super Market, I think F6.. we lived near the Melody Market, I have forgatten the sector -- G something. MY younger brother was in the boys branch and the youngest in the Toddlers school, abbu had to pick everyone up as the incident was happening.

I've also heard of the fire theory .. but no one knows for sure what really happened.

Its good to hear your accounts. It was a real tragic incident.

17

Re: Ojri Camp incident

And as usual we still do not know what happened. There was an interview of the then Defense minister Rana Naeem on GEO, he beleived it was an accident but also said that Junejo lost his job bcoz of inquiry.

18

Re: Ojri Camp incident

So we have too many Islamabadies here on GS! I remember the supplementary newspapers were out by 3 o clock in Karachi. It was really so horrible! That was the year of many happenings in Pakistan. A really very bloody year for Pakistan then.

19

Re: Ojri Camp incident

My husband was getting ready to leave for school when this happened. His brothers had already gone and they couldn't find either of them for several hours afterwards. He said that people always thought that the Americans had done it.

It is interesting to read your narratives. Such a senseless tragedy.