Daily Times

While the nation was still mourning the tragic events of Murree Hills, which occurred on January 8, 2022, in which some 25 innocent tourists lost their lives in their vehicles blocked on choked highways due to excessive snowfall, a new tragedy has occurred. This time, the place is Dadu, where eight children and a woman were killed, when a fire broke out in temporarily built living shelters by the poor people on a self-help basis with no safety apparatus. During the incident, which occurred in the early hours of April 18, 2022, several houses were burnt to ashes and some 160 precious livestock were lost in this tragic incident. The standing crops were badly damaged thus draining the poor villagers of their valuables for the years to come.

Unfortunately, there were no safety procedures and apparatus to deal with such tragic events and therefore, the children were left to get burned alive in one of the most tragic scenes in the recent past. The social media images of a destitute mother holding a burned baby ripped through the hearts of every sane and sensitive Pakistani sans those responsible to avert the tragedy.

Dadu is one of the oldest and most well-connected districts of Sindh Province, which was established by the British in 1933. Until 2004, the famous Cadet College, Petaro was part of District Dadu, however, since the redrawing of the boundaries, the reputable institution is included in District Jamshoro.

While the Murree tragedy occurred because of the lack of action by the local administration in assisting the stranded tourists in time and the non-existence of health and safety contingency procedures to deal with the evolving situation, the Dadu carnage reflects total apathy, lack of care for the poorest segment of the society, and sheer refraction of responsibility without any plausible reasons.

Tragic incidents related to public safety occur partially because of cultural insensitivity to safe practices, and partly due to the inaction of government departments.

It is important to mention that the tragic incidents related to public safety occur partially because of cultural insensitivity to safe practices, and partly due to the inaction of government departments responsible to ensure the safety of the people’s lives and properties. It pains me to write that neither a fire tender nor an ambulance reached the tragic site in Dadu, to either fight the fire or save and remove the injured or dead to a nearby hospital. This inaction of the local administration to react in the emergency situation is not surprising because neither the fire vehicle was available nor the ambulance was serviceable. There cannot be any justification for the lack of safety services within the area of jurisdiction at the local level or the provincial level. Because the provision of health and safety services rests with the provincial government under the 18th Constitutional Amendment. Moreover, there is a reasonable continuity in the political and bureaucratic setup of Sindh province because the same political order is in charge of the affairs since 2008.

The most worrying thing about safety-related incidents in Pakistan is that the findings and recommendations resulting from the inquiries into these tragedies are never made public. Moreover, the public does not know if the corrective measures recommended by the inquiry commission of the previous incident have been instituted or not, and whether the systems have been placed to avoid the recurrence of such tragic incidents in future.

The tragic events of Murree and Dadu may be different in nature and character but have a lot of similarities in the result: the loss of life and property of innocent people for the want of good governance and due to lack of safety as an essential element of human security. The two places, Murree and Dadu, may be geographically dispersed and administratively under different political setups but should serve as an eye-opener for the people responsible for human safety in Pakistan. It is now the responsibility of the government to suitably compensate the grieved and affected, though the lost lives can never be recovered. Moreover, the culture of punishment and reward must be instituted to create deterrence for the defaulters and incentives for the saner elements in the governance system. Public awareness campaign may be vigorously pursued to highlight the dangers of fires in temporary residential complexes. Concurrently, administrative units at all levels must be ready with safety apparatus and trained manpower to deal with evolving safety situations within their areas of responsibility.

The writer is the author of the book ‘Nuclear Deterrence and Conflict Management Between India and Pakistan’. He is presently working as the Director of the Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS).