Daily Times

It is the innocence of children that increases their vulnerability and hence victimhood. The death of four children, all between the ages of eight to twelve, when their school bus plunged into a drain near Lahore, goes to show that these helpless souls rely on the mercy of others. Some eyewitnesses say that the accident occured due to overspeeding of the bus. The bus driver tried to avoid a head on collision with a truck and in doing so fell into the nearby drain. The bus was carrying 55 students. One is not quite sure whether to be thankful or not that at the time of the accident, the drain was empty and it helped the rescue teams to save the rest of the children. The fact that the driver and conductor of the bus fled the site proves undisputedly their culpability. It is unfathomable for a sane human being to even think of overspeeding in a vehicle that has children in it. Road accidents usually occur because of the negligence of drivers. The recent tragedy of Khairpur is before us where almost 60 people died only because of the driver’s neglect. But this should not lead us to think that a lesser number of deaths are by any means less tragic. Who can imagine the trauma these parents would have gone through and who is responsible for the little lives lost? No doubt the school management stands equally responsible hiring such a callous driver for such a delicate duty. The police claims to have taken the school principal into custody but the catastrophe demands more stern action. The matter should not go unresolved. It will only encourage others to go on with their careless and rash driving.

A moment should be spared by the authorities to reconsider the rules for school buses on the roads. Seeing what goes on around the world will tell us that school buses in other countries (forget about overspeeding) literally crawl on the road. Since life here does not carry much value, whether it is an eight-year-old child or an eighty-year-old person, once he or she is on our roads, only luck can keep them safe. The police should carry out a full investigation and bring the culprits to book as soon as possible, so that the death of these four children does not go unpunished, as has been happening in similar tragedies in the past. *