Unsafe travel systems

THE Federal Minister for Communications said last week that Rs20 billion was being spent on the development of national highways and motorways during the current fiscal year. More than better highways and motorways, we desperately need safer travel systems on these highways and motorways.

The last week of September ought to be remembered as one of the bloodiest in Pakistan’s history as far as highway accidents are concerned.

In the last seven days of that month between 24 and 30 September, at least 91 people were killed and 241 injured in nine highway accidents reported in different parts of the country.

In a tenth accident on the highway in the same week, a bag of fireworks on top of a bus going to a marriage function exploded, killing three children and severely burning six others.

This brings the total number of those killed and injured on the highway in the last week of September to at least 94 and 247 respectively.

But will all these unfortunate people be forgotten soon enough, just as the 170 people who died and many more injured and maimed at the horrific train accident near Ghotki three months ago on July 13 have long been forgotten already?

Incidentally, the last week of September also saw at least two train accidents but fortunately, no train passengers were killed. One occurred at Kotri in which two carriages of the Karakoram Express derailed, and the other took place near Haripur in which the Havalian-bound Chenab Express hit a passenger- carrying Datsun pickup. In the latter accident, nine passengers from the pickup lost their lives and eight others were injured.

Another near train disaster occurred last Monday (October 3) when the north-bound Awam Express from Karachi to Peshawar veered off the main track onto a dead end track at Kharian. What could have been the second major rail disaster this year was averted apparently because the driver managed to apply the emergency brakes in time.

If the figures of those killed and injured on the highway in the last week of September were multiplied by 52 weeks in a year, this works out to a total of 4,888 dead and 12,844 injured or maimed annually in highway accidents alone!

This does not include the dead and injured in accidents on the roads of the cities. Adding this number would give even more atrocious figures, for according to the Lahore Traffic Police last week, the number who died and were injured in road accidents in the provincial capital alone in the months of June, July and August 2005 totalled 802 and 1,586 respectively.

Six of the 10 highway accidents reported in the last week of September involved vehicles that were carrying devotees going or returning from the annual death anniversary commemoration at the Shahbaz Lal Qalandar shrine in Sindh, where tens of thousands of devotees throng every year. In these six accidents, which occurred on September 24, 25, 26 and 28, 69 people died and 213 were injured.

Compare the accident rate during this mass movement of people at the death anniversary of Shahbaz Lal Qalandar and that during Hurricane Rita on the Gulf Coast of the US in the same month.

During the latter evacuation of over a million people from cities on the Gulf Coast, particularly Houston, apart from the coach carrying people from an old folks home which caught fire killing over 20 people, hardly any other major accident on the highway was reported.

Highway tragedies in Pakistan usually involve overloaded and overspeeding, passenger-carrying buses, vans and coaches. In most of the cases, many passengers were often sitting on the rooftops of these vehicles, thus tilting the balance of the vehicles. Not surprisingly too, in many if not all of the cases the vehicles must have either been not well maintained or not road worthy at all.

In addition to these two safety violations - overloading and ill-maintained vehicles - our drivers tend to have a penchant for overspeeding, a third safety violation. The lack of proper road markings and signs, plus bad road conditions, are other contributory causes to the high death rate on our highways.

Worse than the violation of traffic rules is the utter lack of concern or sense for observing any kind of safety rules whatsoever, both on the part of the passengers and the drivers.

The complete disregard for safety rules on the road is well demonstrated in the accident involving a passenger bus carrying a marriage party from Sheikhupura to Khanqah Dogran. A bag of fireworks on the bus rooftop had exploded when a lighted cigarette fell on it, killing three children and severely burning six others.

At least three safety rules were violated in this case: no explosives or flammable material like fireworks should be allowed on the bus; no smoking should be allowed on the bus; and no passengers, least of all children, should be allowed to sit on the rooftop.

The alarming lack of safety sense amongst commuters was aptly picturized in a photograph in an English daily last week of a very, very crowded “chamkeeli” bus which was carrying close to a hundred passengers.

At least 40 passengers, mostly students, were sitting or standing precariously on the rooftop of the bus! Six other passengers were standing dangerously on the steps of the two entrances/exits of the bus. These “excess” passengers must surely have more than doubled the capacity load of the bus, thus endangering the lives of everyone on that bus.

Every time a major highway or train accident occurs, concerned officials and leaders perfunctorily condole the deaths and sympathize with the bereaved families, and even hand out one lakh rupees or so to each affected family as well.

But when are the authorities going to move beyond merely condoling and dishing out paltry compensations, and wake up to the hard fact that the issue of safety on our road as well as our rail systems need to be seriously and immediately addressed and tackled?

Merely launching occasional traffic and road safety campaigns in various cities is not going to stop people from sitting on the rooftop of buses or drivers from overspeeding. The authorities will need to come up with more concrete solutions to really improve safety in our travel systems.

A Nobel way to disarmament?

Does the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, carry a hint of a warning for wayward nuclear states like India, Israel and Pakistan? In some obvious ways it does. Not just that, the award can be seen also as a bold censure of the United States, not the least because Mr ElBaradei had steadfastly refused to give his approval to the fictitious American ruse for the military invasion of Iraq.

India and Pakistan are of course a different kettle of fish. They have started describing themselves as responsible nuclear powers although given half a chance they would still behave like congenital street rowdies, threatening each other with dire warnings of mutual annihilation, making cheap appeals of macho militarism to their gullible domestic audiences. We don’t need experts to tell us that South Asia is a more dangerous place today than it was before the advent of nuclear weapons in these two countries.

Armed with the coveted honour of the Nobel Peace Prize Mr. Elbaradei must even more forcefully support people like Mordechai Vanunu, who blew the whistle on Israel’s nefarious nuclear godown, a source of perennial terror in the Middle East. He must also talk to Gordon Prather, or at least confront the serious questions raised by him and other anti-nuclear arms campaigners who have questioned the efficacy, even the intentions of support to nuclear disarmament during the American stewardship of President George W. Bush.

President Bush effectively tore up the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons by announcing to the world recently that ‘as a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology, India should acquire the same benefits and advantages as other such states’.

What it means is even though India refused to be a party to the NPT, because India has developed and tested nuclear weapons, India should now ‘acquire the same benefits and advantages’ that the NPT bestows on the five ‘nuclear-weapons states’-– US, UK, France, Russia and China.

The loophole that India could be looking is in the practice of the NPT by the five NWS. In other words even though all NPT signatories not having nuclear weapons -– such as Iran — are required to subject all their nuclear programmes to a full-scope Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the five NWS are allowed to unilaterally decide which of their nuclear programmes -– if any -– they subject to such an agreement. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says India is prepared to ‘assume the same responsibilities and practices’ as of the Big Five.

“These responsibilities and practices consist of identifying and separating civilian and military nuclear facilities and programmes in a phased manner and filing a declaration regarding its civilians facilities with the International Atomic Energy Agency; taking a decision to place voluntarily its civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards; signing and adhering to an Additional Protocol with respect to civilian nuclear facilities; continuing India’s unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing; working with the United States for the conclusion of a multilateral Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty.”

Would it also become party to the NPT? The answer has been left deliberately vague by the Indian prime minister and this is a loophole for Mr ElBaradei to fix.

True India has now agreed to ratify the CTBT and has affirmed the ‘competent authority’ of the IAEA to verify compliance with India’s safeguards agreement.

Perhaps that is why Mr ElBaradei ‘welcomed’ the US-India agreement to embark on full civil nuclear energy cooperation and to enhance nuclear non-proliferation and security.

“Out of the box thinking and active participation by all members of the international community are important if we are to advance nuclear arms control, non-proliferation, safety and security, and tackle new threats such as illicit trafficking in sensitive nuclear technology and the risks of nuclear terrorism,” he said.

“Making advanced civil nuclear technology available to all countries will contribute to the enhancement of nuclear safety and security.”

The IAEA head says that India´s intention to identify and place all its civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards and sign and adhere to an Additional Protocol with respect to civilian nuclear facilities is a welcome development.

On this score, many usually informed analysts see a vast stretch of uncertainty between the cup and the lip.

As the South Asia expert Prof. Stephen Cohen observed in a recent interview the United States and India define non-proliferation in different ways. “The Indians point to their great record of not transferring nuclear technologies and also, of course, point to Pakistan and China.”

On the other hand, for many Americans, including people in the Congress, the fact that India went nuclear constitutes a non-proliferation disaster.

Although Prof. Cohen admittedly doesn’t agree with that position he does have his concerns about the May 1998 tests.

“Clearly it did some damage to the non-proliferation regime. Whether it is justified or not is another question, but India cannot simply say they are great on non-proliferation because in fact they were a major proliferator.”

In other words, a new law on disarmament to be put on the anvil by the US Congress could give Mr ElBaradei the lead he would be looking for.

Prof. Cohen says the US law should be written in a way that it could bring in other countries, especially Pakistan and Israel, and get more of their facilities under international inspection.

“And I believe one of the key issues is how big a nuclear weapons programme India wants to have and how rigid the barrier will be between civil and military...You can’t pour water in the bucket and then have it pour out into another bucket — that’s not going to work. So India is going to have to erect a really tall and impermeable wall between its military and civil programmes.” And that wall would be reinforced by the IAEA’s newfound respectability.

SHAKEEL AHMAD of Varanasi had predicted Saturday’s earthquake nearly five days ago, according to the Asian Age. He had even sent an email to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction secretariat, but apparently no one there took him seriously.

Shakeel Ahmad, however, is neither a scientist nor a soothsayer -– he is a self-proclaimed ‘cloud reader’ and ‘earthquake predictor’, though he insists that he can prove his ‘theory’ with proper evidence.

“The clouds form a particular mosaic pattern when an earthquake is round the corner. This is not a myth and I can prove it scientifically,” he says.

jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Helping quake victims

As the news of last Saturday’s earthquake in the north of the country started to trickle in, most Karachians were once again reminded of the fact that their city, which also lies on a fault line, is not invulnerable to such brutal vagaries of nature. They could, therefore, empathize with those who were worried about their near and dear ones in the calamity-hit areas.

A friend’s houseman, who hails from Battal near Mansehra, became most concerned when he saw news bulletins on TV about widespread destruction in his hometown. He tried calling the only phone number in his village, but failed to get through. What he didn’t know was that communications networks had become choked all over the country. Unable to find out how his parents and siblings were, he took the first bus to Mansehra.

A colleague who visited an inter-city bus-stand on Sunday afternoon learnt that most Abbottabad-bound vehicles had left carrying more passengers than they should.

“Brawls broke out among people who couldn’t wait to get to their relatives in Abbottabad and Mansehra. At first I was reluctant to send a bus to calamity-hit areas in the north of the country because I didn’t know what the road conditions were. But so many desperate passengers had converged on the bus-stand that I gave no hint of my initial reservations for fear of being beaten up by them,” said a bus operator, adding that his drivers called to tell him that the extent of damage and destruction in the Hazara division was far greater than was initially estimated.

Train travel somehow remained the least attractive option for those who wanted to reach Islamabad and the Northern Areas at the earliest. Most preferred swift air travel, and those who couldn’t afford, went by bus.

As TV channels and newspapers reported on the plight of earthquake victims, a massive relief effort, mostly organized by public-spirited citizens, got underway on Sunday. One received a number of SMS text messages, informing one of the places where relief goods – tents, blankets, medicine and non-perishable foods – could be deposited so that they could be immediately dispatched to people in distress. (Even the corps headquarters in Karachi sent an SMS text message to inform newsmen about the location of two its relief camps.) Cellphone companies also asked their subscribers to donate money through send SMS text messages. Political parties set up relief camps throughout the city and, much to the annoyance of area residents, used loudhailers to get people to contribute to the earthquake fund.

Home to people from all regions of the country, Karachi is naturally expected to make the highest contribution to the earthquake relief effort organized both by the government and private individuals. And judging by the number of calls newspapers offices received from citizens desirous of donating funds and doing their bit, one is certain that Karachi’s contribution will be significant.

Getting it right

A colleague insists that sometimes attempts to get jobs done through big bosses in government departments can be counter-productive. He cites the example of the Clifton Cantonment Board, where he committed the error of complaining to a gentleman who holds a senior position that the light on the electric pole opposite his apartment in Seaview Township was not working.

The gentleman, an epitome of courtesy and politeness, promised that the work would be done the same evening. Our colleague went home a happy man but when the complaint was not rectified for two days he phoned the senior person, a retired army officer. “Strange, but don’t worry. The staff must have been busy elsewhere. I shall see to it that it is done today,” came the reply. Four phone calls and four unfulfilled promises followed.

When our colleague, in an irritated mood, phoned the senior officer, for what proved to be the last time, he said: “You promised me five times that the complaint will be attended the same day, but nothing has come out of it. Will you please see to it that it is done in the next three or four days?” The man, on the other side of the line, responded by saying, “Please don’t set a deadline for me. However, I shall get it done by this evening.” That proved to be yet another false promise.

Our colleague casually narrated the story to someone in the neighbouring block. The gentleman said: “You committed a mistake by going to one of the big bosses. I’ll give you the phone number of the man in charge of street lighting and you speak to him.” The advice was taken, and sure enough by midnight the team of electricians did the needful.

Police cleanup at Plaza

Last week at the Plaza on M.A. Jinnah Road there was a strange peace and calm. There were no boys chasing cars and offering services such as changing car locks or installing new speakers, no seat cover or floor mat shops occupying most of the pavements and no paan-chewing ustad with his four or five disciples working on car skeletons with their seats lying outside and all the four doors open.

According to the motor part dealers in the vicinity, the reason for this sudden lack of activity is the police’s reaction to the ill-treatment of one of their ranks by roadside vendors. Since the vendors are anyway on the wrong side of the law by setting up shop on the pavements, they pay a share of their earnings to the authorities who let them stay and do business here.

Recently, one police wallah demanded a hefty bribe from these vendors who lost their cool and beat him up real bad. As a result, the keepers of law showed up in strength to arrest all the vendors and confiscate their belongings.

It is ironic to see how the police often do the needful for the wrong reasons.

Putting banners to good use

The cloth banners you see strung across roadabouts and from streetlight poles can be put to a variety of uses, as was discovered one day last week.

A man was seen emerging from under the wings of the plane fixed on the roundabout near the Jahangir Kothari Parade after a fresh change of clothes. He had made a ‘dhoti’ out of a credit card advertisement banner and had another of a mobile phone banner in his hand, maybe for a member of his clan.

With the clothing problem of the poor solved, all that is left to worry about is food and housing. As for the food, the ‘langar’ at Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s mausoleum, after the knocking down of the shops, is again on in full swing, although under open skies.

— By Karachian

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