O Lovely: MIRACULOUS

The Jeep jumped, turned left, toppled and fell into a very fast moving and deep River. It was the “Hakra” River. It is almost 50 meters wide and around 30 feet deep. We were 9 passengers in the Jeep including the driver. The Jeep landed on its roof and was now sinking slowly. As it was winters therefore, all the windows of the Jeep were closed and the tarpaulin cover of the Jeep was also closed. This delayed the water gushing into the cabin of the Jeep.

Now let me start from the beginning.

It was the winters of 1981. I was at that time stationed at Bahawalpur City of

Pakistan

. Before the partition of the sub continent, Bahawalpur was one of the largest independent States being ruled by the Nawab of Bahawalpur. The capital of that State was this Bahawalpur City however, the Nawab of Bahawalpur used to stay at Dera Nawab, which was 40 kilometers South of Bahawalpur. The state of Bahawalpur was one of those states which was maintaining its own Army and that was also one of the largest in the sub continent at that time. In 1947, the Nawab of Bahawalpur decided to merge its Bahawalpur State into Pakistan and also gifted his Army, fully equipped, to the Independent State of Pakistan. Those were one of the first troops who became part of the now renowned Pakistan Armed Forces.

I was living at “Gulzar Mehal” which was also one of the residences of the Nawab and his family in good old days during Nawab’s reins. It was donated to Pakistan Army by the then Nawab and was converted into an officer’s Mess by the Pakistan Army.

My three younger sisters, along with one of my Nephew came all the way from Quetta to visit me. The education institutions at Quetta were close for winter vacations so, these youngsters were free and came on site seeing visit.

That Sunday, it was our predefined visit to Lal Suhanra National Park. It was about 40 kilometers East of Bahawalpur and is a reserved sanctuary of wild animals and Birds but, mainly it is a reserve sanctuary for “Black Buck”, which was internationally declared as “Endangered” species.

Lal Suhanra National park was declared a national park on 26 October 1972, following recommendations made by the Wildlife Enquiry Committee in 1971. Originally, the park comprised an area of 31,355ha, of which 20,932ha were desert, 8,488ha irrigated forest plantation and 1,934ha reservoir; it was due to be enlarged by 22,680ha. It is crossed by the dried-up bed of the Hakra River and features an important wetland, Patisar Lake. Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) has 6 A/C bedroom resorts in the park. Beside this, camping can also be done in selected campsites.

Wildlife:

Blackbuck became virtually extinct in the Cholistan Desert but the species has been re-introduced in Lal Suhanra within large enclosures, together with Chinkara gazelle, Nilgai antelope, Hog deer and Indian rhinoceros. There is big lake in the center of the park called Patisar Lake, which is ideal for bird watching. Patisar Lake regularly holds between 10,000 and 30,000 ducks and common coot in mid-winter. Over 1300 waterfowl were present in January 1987. The park also supports a large population of birds of prey.

Mammals:

Mammals in the park include--Long-eared Hedgehog (C), Nilgai antelope (T), Black buck (T), Chinkara gazelle (V), Hog deer (T), Red fox (C), Bengal Fox (V), Golden Jackal (C), Porcupine (C), Caracal cat (R), Mongoose (C), Jungle cat (C), Indian Wolf (R), Wild boar (C), Honey Badger or Ratel (?), Little Civet (?), Indian (Black-napped) Hare (C), Smooth-coated Otter (V) and Indian rhino (introduced) (T).

Note: T=Threatened, V=Vulnerable, R=Rare, C=Common, and ?=Unknown.

Birds:

Total species: 160

Birds in the park are--Houbara bustard, Griffon vulture, Honey buzzard, Marsh harrier, Hen harrier, Laggar falcon, Peregrine falcon, Kestrel, Indian sparrow hawk, Egyptian vulture, Larks, Shrikes, Wheatears and Barn Owl.

Reptiles:

Reptiles in the park are-- Monitor lizard, Russell's viper, Indian cobra, Saw scaled viper, Wolf snake, John's sand boa and Spiny tailed lizard.

“Black Buck” is locally called as “Kala Herun”. This animal, is part of the deer family and some years back, was only available in this part of world and only in Pakistan i.e. in the Cholistan desert. It was though very unfortunate that it was extinct here due to excessive killings by the illegal hunters. It is however, our good luck that some years back few pairs of “Black Bucks” were donated to “Australia” and they were being breed and raised there. On extinction of breed few pairs were requested back from Australia and now, they are being breed at Lal Suhanra National Park. This park also contains many other animals and birds which are declared endangered species of the World animals. They are as described above.

This particular area of Cholistan desert is being irrigated by “Hakra Canal” one of the biggest canals of the largest canal irrigations systems in the world. The peculiarity of this canal is that it is very deep, wide and the current in the canal is very fast.

We started off in the morning and had a plan to have a picnic lunch at Lal Suhanra National Park Rest House, after visiting the entire Park and sight seeing.

We were traveling in a Toyota Jeep of the Pakistan Army, which we got on rent. In our program, one of our seniors Major Javed, who was living with his wife and a kid, also joined. So in the Jeep, we were nine passengers including the driver. These were me, my three sisters, my Nephew, Major Javed, his wife and a one year old daughter.

From the highway, which connects Bahawalpur with Bahawalnagar, one has to turn from Lal Suhanra village and adopt the canal service track, made of mud, to reach the Park.

While we were middle distance from the Park that the front left wheel of the Jeep went and came out of a small hole on the track. This hole could not be noticed by the driver, who was somehow sleeping at that time. Because of the wheel going and coming out of the hole, the Jeep had a bad jerk, which awoke the driver who, I still don’t understand why, left turned the steering. Consequently, the Jeep toppled and fell into the canal, on its roof.

I and Major Javed immediately started rescue actions to get all out of the vehicle. Major Javed and I tried in vain to break the windscreen and the window glasses. Then we tried to tear the Tarpaulin, farming the roof of the Jeep, with our kicks but failed. Through out this struggle, my aim was to get us all out of the water before the air in the vehicle is filled by water. Amongst all 9 of us, only I and Major Javed were the swimmers.

During this entire episode, I was reciting the Quran verses, gifted to me by an elder and praying ALLAH for the safety of all. It is my routine that whenever I start a journey, I complete the recitation of those verses, ask ALLAH's protection and then leave everything to ALLAH. Here also, I was requesting ALLAH’s help.

Suddenly it came to my mind and I reached and unzipped the Tarpaulin from the side of the vehicle. The Tarpaulin opened and the water gushed inside. Major Javed grabbed his wife and daughter and swam for the surface. I got hold of two of my sister’s from their hair and also swam for the surface using my feet. Luckily, hearing the Bang of the fall of the Jeep into the River, the wood cutters working in the nearby Forest, rushed towards the scene of the accident. They were lined up on the River bank. Me and Major Javed handed over our load to them and dived again and brought the rest of the people out before they drowned. The wife of Major Javed was screaming at the top of her voice out of fear and she was not even bothered about her daughter lying on the ground besides her crying. Major Javed gave a strong slap on her face with a bang. That brought her to senses.

With the grace of ALLAH and out of some Miracle, all of us survived and did not have a single loss of life or did not even had a minor injury.

With the help of the villagers, we recovered the drowned Jeep and it was towed to Bahawalpur by a tractor. The driver and my Nephew sat with the tractor driver and rest of us sat in the same Jeep and reached home safely.

During this entire episode, my sisters & Nephew kept laughing and enjoying the thrill and did not show even an iota of fear as to what we went through. This may be strange behaviour for some but, we as a family have seen so many roughs and toughs together that nothing scares us.

I still do not have any explanation as to how that day we survived. It was just ALLAH who saved us and I still thank ALLAH for this miracle.