| March 22, 2002 | Friday | Muharram 7, 1423 |
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Death on capital’s roads
KCR: another plan
WITH a new wave of terrorism sweeping the country, the government has once again announced plans to overhaul the law enforcement agencies. Although no specific plans have been made public, the government, it seems, has been spurred into action by a series of attacks, including the murder in an Islamabad church of five people and an act of terrorism in Lahore a day later. All this in addition to the continued assassination of Shia doctors in Karachi. A spokesman for the government said President Musharraf had issued a warning to security officials, saying disciplinary action would be taken against them in case there is a security lapse again. Given the scope and extent of terrorism in the country, one must keep one’s fingers crossed.
There is no doubt the extremist parties banned in January are gradually reviving their activity. The defeat of the Taliban regime might have demoralized them temporarily, but, within months, they seem to have re-organized themselves. Their aim obviously is to defame the Musharraf government, which they detest both for its war on extremism and for its foreign policy choices. In deciding to defame the government, they could not care less if that brings a bad name to the country itself. The attack on a church in Bahawalpur, the cold blooded murder of Daniel Pearl, and now the blast in the Islamabad church in the diplomatic enclave seem to be part of a determined bid to convey a message to the world. The message is that the forces of extremism, bigotry and anarchy are rampant in the country, that the minorities are not safe in Pakistan, and that the Musharraf government is not in full control of the domestic situation. That this approach brings a bad name to Pakistan itself does not seem to bother the terrorists for whom party interests and parochial causes seem more important. From the point of view of the people of Pakistan, however, what is important is neither the country’s image, nor the declining possibilities of foreign investment. What they passionately long for is an end to terrorism, so that they carry on their lives in peace and security. At present, they feel miserable, unsafe and ashamed of being mere spectators to the gory drama around them.
We have a plethora of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, both civilian and military. One is also aware of their deep involvement in domestic politics and their backing of extremist parties. They also had, at least in the past, plenty of resources in men and material at their disposal. Yet, when it comes to going after this cancerous growth, they have simply failed to do their basic duty. Obviously, those who fire bullets or throw bombs are low-level operatives. They work for others. Who are those “others”? Why cannot our intelligence boys penetrate the terrorist networks and arrest and unmask the faces behind them? Occasionally, suspects have been caught and sometimes meted out justice. But that has made no difference to the terrorism wave, because the brains behind sectarian and other kinds of terrorism remain unidentified.
We also hear from time to time that a certain foreign power is behind some of the attacks. If so, then irrefutable evidence must be produced to let the people and the world know who is trying to fish in Pakistan’s troubled waters. The people of Pakistan are not interested in a revamping or overhauling of the agencies. They want results. Let the government prove it is capable of coming up to their expectations.
ONE would have thought that the traffic police’s new ticketing system would serve to make motorists more careful on the roads. But, instead, another pedestrian died in Islamabad on Monday after being knocked down by a car. The day before, two persons were killed in separate road accidents, one a motorcyclist, who was knocked down by a wagon at Zero Point. Over a week ago, a woman died after being hit by a car as she was crossing the road near Aabpara, while her daughter was seriously injured. And last month, an old man was knocked down and killed while crossing the road at China Chowk.
Death on the capital’s roads has not been confined to pedestrians and motorcyclists. A number of motorists and passengers were killed in major vehicular accidents over the past month, including one on Shahrah-i-Islamabad, where a bus turned turtle thrice over before landing on its side. The fault lies as much with the drivers and motorists who speed and drive recklessly as with pedestrians without a civic sense failing to follow traffic rules. By one estimate, 45 per cent of road accidents involve pedestrians, and almost 70 per cent of deaths in road accidents are non-motorists. One contributing factor is the lack of proper facilities on the roads for pedestrians like pedestrian bridges and underpasses. The traffic police definitely need to do more to propagate the knowledge of traffic rules in the public. This could involve, for example, traffic safety campaigns for the public and in schools to catch‘em young. The authorities would also need to institute more stringent tests, both practical and written, before issuing driving licences. The slogan “speed kills” should be instilled into the minds of motorists. With the growing population and the increase in the number of vehicles in Islamabad, the rate of fatal accidents is very likely to grow, unless the authorities do something concrete to curb this trend.
THE revival of the Karachi Circular Railway is being talked about once again. This is nothing new. But this time round, the Sindh government has a complete master plan, which envisages its revival in three phases. It seeks to upgrade and extend the KCR’s existing infrastructure to make it a preferred and affordable mode of transport. The plan is a realistic one and envisages the construction of several stations in the city, making them the hub of activity in their respective areas. More important, the city district government, for the first time, has been invited to be part of the revival plan. All of these are welcome developments. But the real issue is whether the plan will see the light of day.
The first phase aims at doubling the existing tracks and building more convenient access-ways to and from the existing stations, including the extension of bus routes to connect these stations to a larger commuter base. Phase two will extend the KCR to new suburbs in the west and north of the city, with the aim of minimizing long-distance travel by bus. In the final phase, the Korangi industrial area and the southern coastal regions will be linked with the rest of the network. The Sindh government is waiting to get the master plan approved by the president. The plan is a solid one and requires action by the federal government to make the necessary resources available and facilitate a timely handing over of the required assets by Pakistan Railways to the city government. If all goes according to the master plan — which one doubts, given the fate of similar plans in the past — one can begin to hope that Karachi will at last have a decent circular railway in place in not too distant a future.