| 19 December 2004 | Sunday | 06 Ziqa'ad 1425 |
Fata an interactive seminar
Two little schoolgirls of this city, both sisters, Yusra, nine, and Durr-i-Shahwar, 10, died on their way to school, when a water tanker coming from wrong direction hit the two-wheeler they were on, with their father Muhammad Saleem, who got injured in that tragic accident that happened on Wednesday. The tanker was set ablaze, and the driver beaten up by an enraged public.
There is much to sadden anyone here. The girls lost their lives, and one can imagine the shock, the sorrow, and the lifelong unhappiness that the parents and the rest of the family will have to live with. What is disappointing is that not only have the newspapers given no follow-up to the story, but that the human story (as it is called) has not been pursued. What was that fateful morning like, their last morning at home? What did the little girls want to become when they grew up? What were their dreams? The family has undergone a nightmare, please.
The motorcycle? It tells about the socio-economic status of the family, and reminds one of the common sight of two, three or even four children on a motorcycle, usually with their father, reflecting the sad state of the public transport system in town, and the perilous manner in which children go to their schools.
Almost everybody who goes out on the roads of this maddening city takes a risk, but that is another story. The focus here is on the two sisters who died, and the enraged public that reacted violently.
One newspaper report said that the girls were on the two-wheeler because their school bus did not show up, and they had no other option. Once again a reflection of the inadequacy and unreliability of the public transport system for schoolchildren.
While one mourns the death of two little girls, there is also a need to consider the burning of the killer water tanker by the angry people. This has now become a routine in fact, an anticipated happening: the burning of the vehicles involved in accidents, whether fatal or not. As indeed is the fact that the erring drivers are attacked - instant 'justice' or revenge.
Over the years, as traffic accidents have increased in a city, where traffic has become dense and uncontrollable, and where drivers' skill and discipline seem to be dwindling, the public response is getting unmanageable. The public, as it appears, has no trust in the efficiency of the law, it has no faith in the system also, that unfolds almost every time such an accident occurs. And all efforts to improve the urban traffic and its management appear futile really. And this is no cynicism. This is the face of reality, really.
And Nagan Chowrangi (or roundabout). Is there something inherently wrong or bad in the design of this place? This Wednesday's accident is not the first time that a fatal accident has occurred there that could have been avoided. A Karachiite remarked in bitterness: "Is this really a 'Nagan' Chowrangi, whose poison one cannot survive?" No humour, this, please.
One wonders whether the Traffic Engineering Bureau (TEB) has thought of focusing on such vulnerable spots that surely do exist all over the city? Has there been any monitoring of the flow of traffic with an eye on the bottlenecks, and a view to minimize the frequency and the gravity of the traffic mishaps that take place at this chowrangi? City Government listening?
Traffic police statistics reported in Dawn indicate that 103 trucks, trawlers, and dumpers have been involved in accidents in which 114 people have died during the last ten months. In 2003, in the first ten months, 81 people died in 75 such accidents. Does any one really bother about all this? one asks in disgust.
Look at the way we go on Karachi roads, or survive on them on a daily basis. How the drivers of trucks, minibuses, trawlers, tankers, (water and petrol) and dumpers and other descriptions of large, long vehicles drive on the city roads. See the traffic jams they create, and the manner in which they terrorise drivers of smaller vehicles. A large vehicle hitting a smaller one, say rickshaw or small car, is something that wouldn't capture one's attention.
Yet the damage to the vehicle, and the injury to the inmates is something for which no complete statistical picture is available. This is the visible, intangible territory that we are all exposed to; an unreported apprehension or a road fear unaccounted for, which both pedestrians and drivers experience.
Statistics further point to another area, where there has been a deterioration vis a vis road safety. At least 536 people lost their lives in road mishaps this year in the first 10 months, as against 527 in the same period last year. One needs to pause here and imagine the personal loss that the families concerned must have suffered, and will suffer all their lives.
These are not just cold statistics. They are the people lost because someone was making a mistake on road. Mistake caused by a variety of factors: speed, poor training, inadequate learning, bad roads, faulty designing of roads, and supporting arteries and so on. One citizen, I talked to on this subject, added: "Absence of justice, as the drivers of these heavy-duty vehicles get away scot-free, eventually."
Let us return to Nagan Chowrangi. Another accident took place at this point on Thursday morning in which the two vehicles involved were a public bus and a private car. Two inmates of the car, Zain and Mohammad Tariq were injured; and once again the driver of the bus was the target of a public anger. The bus was set on fire and damaged.
One is reminded here of another occasion when violence erupted following a road accident at this "notoriously dangerous" Nagan Chowrangi, couple of months ago when a "dumper collided with a yellow cab, and also rammed into a motorcyclist". In this case Rangers person died in the accident, and four trucks behind the dumper also went off the road when the mishap took place.
Let us return to the tragedy that struck Mr Muhammad Saleem's family at Nagan Chowrangi on a December morning, when life appeared routine. A news report says that the father of the two dead sisters has asked many questions, one of which was that when heavy-duty vehicles were disallowed on the road, why did tankers ply on it?"
Fata an interactive seminar
Seminars can be either unbearably dull or so highly learned and pedantic as to exceed the attention span of even serious listeners.
The seminar on Fata was a happy and refreshing exception to the rule - both in substance and in animated audience participation. The two-day seminar was organized by the Area Study Centre (Russia, China and Central Asia) of the University of Peshawar in collaboration with the Hanns Seideal Foundation.
It brought a sizeable mix of - mainly the Waziri, Ahmad Zaid and Mehsud - tribal representatives to the fore in a markedly uninhibited and spirited exchange of views with their metropolitan counterparts. Language was no barrier as English to Pashto / Urdu, (and vice versa), translation and summaries followed every presentation as required.
The tribal speakers projected their case with unexceptionable frankness and responded to fellow speakers at length and with a good deal of gusto. Besides the welcome and keynote address, some 14 papers were readout, ranging from the socio-economic conditions in Fata, to the continuance of the black Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR of 1901); the impact of Afghan affairs on the tribal areas and politico-military analyses of the military operation in Wana and elsewhere in tribal territory.
There was a focused discussion on the prolonged, ongoing Wana operation, The collective tribal response was one of anger and frustration over the "length and intensity" of the operation. The representatives would bitterly complain against the abrupt U-turn in government policy towards the Mujahideen and the Taliban.
Malik Qadir Khan, a fiery tribal chief from the North Waziristan Agency, pointedly spoke of the time when the government would have the tribals treat Mujahideen from Kashmir and Afghanistan as their brothers "in the noble tradition of Ansar-e-Madina."
Mustering his native sense of humour, Malik Qadir Khan said that those of them who had more than one wife were supposed to divorce and give her away in marriage to the incoming warriors. He went on to say that if he had given away one of his wives to a mujahid, she would have been branded today as the spouse of dahshat-gard (terrorist).
Yet another tribal chief from the agency, Malik Gulabat Khan, spoke in the same strain on the same theme. The sudden shift in government policy towards the tribal areas and the subsequent military operation, had left the tribes in a state of shock. That was besides the losses they suffered physically and materially, in life and land.
Maulana Noor Mohammad and Inayatullah Mahsud from the South Waziristan Agency, spoke on the plight of the Mahsuds singled out specially for harsh treatment by the authorities. It is to be noted that while the Waziris and Ahmad Zais have practically made it up with the government, the Mahsuds, supposedly the toughest and the most recalcitrant of the lot, remain pitted against the authorities.
The overall impression gained from the impassioned presentations of the tribes was one of extreme dissatisfaction, despair and protest over the military operation. They, the Mahsud presenters, in particular, waxed eloquent on their role as freedom fighters under the British and as peaceful citizens of Pakistan. It was anything but fair to question their patriotic credentials and to launch military operations in their areas, they contended.
The periodic cross-border forays by the US forces into Fata, accidental or deliberate, also came in for criticism. The Angoor Adda and Lowara Mandai excursions were quoted as examples of American excesses from amongst many such incidents.
Whether the Pakistan army was operating "alongside" or "jointly" with the US forces was also deliberated. It could be either way. But it would be hard to deny that the army and the para-military Frontier Corps remained a part of the US-led coalition forces engaged in the "global war" on terrorism.
Therefore, the distinction between operating alongside and jointly would be purely technical. As for air operations, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) like the Predator and, where necessary, warplanes tended to show little respect for the inviolability of Pakistan's air space.
The suggestion to carve out a province in Fata elicited a fiery response from the floor. That would in practical terms, amount to wrenching the tribal areas away from the NWFP - something utterly unacceptable. The Frontier people and the government would not even hear of it.
Dr Minhajul Hassan, in his paper on the "Afghan Impact on the tribal Area," dwelt at length on the havoc the concentration of the Afghan refugees in the Frontier and Balochistan had played with the socio-cultural mores of the people and the ecology of the areas. Some of the major damage done included deforestation, the emergence of "Sunni" madressahs spreading jihad ideology; the spread of deadly infectious diseases, the hijacking of vehicles, drugs and arms smuggling and rising land prices (etc.).
On the sidelines of the conference, there was much talk about the lack of coordination between the civil and military establishments. The civilian establishment headed by the governor would go its way, when necessary, even if it crossed the military's path.
What is to be noted about Fata, is that except for sporadic tribal flare-ups every now and then Fata had been by and large, a zone of peace and tranquillity. That is in spite of such disruptive moves and signals emanating from Afghanistan as the Pushtunishtan movement and the erratic interpretations of the status of the Durand Line as the internationally recognized Pakistan-Afghan border.
Only recently, its status was questioned having completed its allotted span of a 100 years. The fact is that the status, having been fixed in perpetuity, is above question. Barring instances, our tribesmen have firmly stood by the federation as patriotic Pakistanis.
Integral to the NWFP, Fata is not yet a part of the province. It remains an anomaly much in the same way as the Northern Areas of Azad Kashmir. Neither exactly is a part of the federation or under the Constitution.
- The writer is a retired brigadier of the Pakistan Army.