Daily Times

A train carrying hundreds of military personnel and their families was headed to Kharian on the Chanawan Bridge on July 2, when the bridge collapsed and several of the train’s carriages fell into a canal. There have been 17 casualties so far but the death toll may be higher because several people are still missing. It is as yet unclear whether this accident occurred because the bridge had not been well maintained or whether it was an act of sabotage. Because of the decrepit and outdated railway system in Pakistan and the precariousness of security in the country, both possibilities are quite plausible. The Railways Minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique, has said, “This bridge was inspected in December and January and it had no issues… it could be due to a blast or deliberate loosening of the fishplates.” By implying that it was most likely an act of sabotage, the Railways Minister is also implying that he and his ministry are not responsible for the collapsing of the bridge. Train travel is the safest mode of transportation in the world, but that might not be the case in Pakistan because some of the railway tracks and other infrastructure are incredibly old and decrepit. While the government is busy setting up green and orange line commuter trains, no attention is being paid to upgrading the existing railway infrastructure. Whatever the causes for the mishap, the Railways Ministry must be held accountable for the accident and Minister Rafique’s deflection of responsibility is a denial of democratic accountability. The recent heatwave in Karachi, which quickly turned into a humanitarian crisis and national tragedy, is another example of how the state and concerned authorities deftly bounce the blame to each other and to third parties (such as K-Electric) to shirk all responsibility when there is a crisis. Even if K-Electric was to blame for the excessive load shedding in Karachi during the heatwave, the Water and Power Ministry are still responsible for not monitoring K-Electric and for not being able to boost the production of electricity.
The army, however, seems to support the minister’s statement. An army official has reportedly said, “The planks on the rail were tampered with.” The Railways Minister has set up a committee to investigate the matter within 72 hours. Yet the track record of investigations in Pakistan suggests that the true cause of the accident might never come to light. If the investigation is conclusive and the train accident turns out to be a deliberate attack by a militant organisation, it will be yet another attack in an urban or suburban area that reflects the failure of the National Action Plan (NAP). After the Army Public School (APS) attack in Peshawar, the government and military seemed determined to eradicate terrorism from the country. Due to the military operations in the mountainous north and west of Pakistan, the terrorists are leaving their safe havens to either flee across the border or moving to the central parts of the country. In response to these operations, they are targeting the army now more than ever. APS and this train are just the soft targets that the terrorists need to send their message of resistance to the military. If this accident was a terrorist attack, then it reflects the failure of the state in implementing NAP and not being able to gather sufficient intelligence on the militant organisations to be able to pre-emptively stop such attacks from happening. If the bridge collapsed due to a mechanical fault, it was the failure of the Railways Ministry and the federal government in the upkeep of the railway infrastructure. Either way, this incident shows how government institutions in Pakistan are unable to prevent crises and do not seem to learn from their mistakes. *