KARACHI: Govt fails to check sale, manufacture of crackers
By Zaheer Ahmed Khan
KARACHI, Sept 19: Incidents involving crackers have been taking place with impunity claiming scores of innocent lives annually and causing disability among many, but a strict ban is still awaited on the manufacture of these deadly devices.
It is commonly believed that the manufacture of these crackers and their import is carried out with the connivance of the agencies concerned.
Inquiries revealed that while the government, off and on issues warnings against the sale and use of firecrackers, no action is taken against the manufacture of explosive devices of light intensity and crackers, and it is why incidents involving crackers have been taking place.
Although crackers are traditionally manufactured in parts of Sindh and Punjab, the businesses of manufacturing crackers has started shifting from major cities to smaller cities and villages where homemade devices are being invented and supplied in the market, inquiries further revealed.
Firecrackers worth millions of rupees are used annually on weddings and other occasions. Use of firecrackers and aerial firing also poses threat to people’s lives and sometime results in tragedies.
On Monday only, an eight-year-old boy died and seven others suffered wounds in a blast caused in a firecracker dump in Orangi Town. The boy identified as Kashif died in a neighboring house owing to the impact of the blast and the subsequent damage to his house which also crashed at least two more houses.
Although the house owner, Khalid Mehmood, is absconding, reports suggested that he had a business of crackers in a nearby market and when the police raided his warehouse, he shifted these deadly bombs to his house, keeping aside the security risk they can pose not only to his own family members but to others who were caught unguarded when blasts occurred and fire started raging.
Fire-crackers business, according to reports, is taking place in Orangi on a major scale and their manufacture and storage is taking place with the blessings of the local police.
Similarly, a house near Malir’s Jinnah Square had collapsed a few years back after a stock of crackers stored inside went off. The blast had caused panic in the locality and enormous damage to the nearby houses.
Last year, more than 30 people, most of them women and children, had lost their lives in Lahore when the bus they were traveling in, caught fire following an explosion caused by the firecrackers dumped somewhere inside the vehicle. The occupants of the bus were members of a wedding party. Many of them could not escape the fire as the flames and smoke had engulfed the entire vehicle.Setting off crackers to celebrate various occasions has unfortunately become a tradition and the menace has remained unchecked so far.
Despite imposition of Section 144, police appeared absolutely helpless in controlling the overenthusiastic youths who resort to indulging in aerial firing and setting off crackers in jubilation, generally at wedding parties.
Similarly, fire-crackers are excessively used on Shab-i-Barat. As various kinds of crackers are set off in residential localities, it creates scare among residents and causes fear among minors.
Explosive crackers create noise pollution and involve safety issue. The ‘noise-making bombs’ and fireworks, when used by children, also cause burns to their users.
Firework intended for aerial use can result in fire incidents involving houses and hutments. These types of crackers are excessively used during marriage ceremonies. Despite Section 144 being in place, their sale and use continues unabated, said an elderly man.
This year also, the ban on sale and use of crackers on Shab-i-Barat brought no relief to the Karachiites as youths indulged in detonation of crackers as usual.
Although there was restricted sale of crackers this year owing to the ban, shopkeepers managed to keep the sale secret.
Complaints of detonation of bombs were received from a number of city areas, including Malir, Landhi, Korangi, Shah Faisal Colony, North Karachi and Baldia etc, and youths were reportedly found indulged in the practice even in front of police stations and near mosques and houses.
The Sindh home minister’s advice and imposition of Section 144 by the city nazim in this regard also proved futile as no check was made on the sale of crackers.
These were available at shops, and youths were found indulged in lighting crackers for many days before Shab-i-Baraat. The activity increased gradually and reached its peak on that night.
According to a religious scholar Shab-i-Barat is a night to offer prayers and to seek forgiveness and Almighty Allah’s blessings instead of indulging in such activities.
The detonations of bombs are un-Islamic and are meant to disturb sick people, especially minor children, especially those offering prayers on this night and should not be encouraged by parents.
If the government sincerely wants to impose ban, it should have checked those places where these are being manufactured.
Parents can also stop their children. If children are forbidden by their parents and not given money to purchase the bombs, they won’t be able to purchase any kind of such devices.
These practices are all from the unbelievers and are meant to disturb those offering prayers, added the scholar.
Some of the devices are harmful for children themselves as their mishandling often results in accidents, he further said.
Inquiries revealed that different types of bombs and crackers were exploded by youth during the last one week, and one of them had the sound of a missile and another sounded like Kalashnikov-burst. Strange types of bombs and crackers were seen in the hands of children this year, which showed that these are either being, manufactured somewhere in Pakistan or are being imported.
A citizen was of the view that police mobile roam throughout the city, and this practice could be curbed if policemen were sincere enough in the imposition of any ban.
This year clear directives were issued by the Sindh home minister that youths above the age of 18 and parents of the younger ones would be sent behind the bars if found indulged in setting off a cracker.
On the night of Sept 8, youths indulged in exploding bombs on roads and even continued this practice the subsequent days.
The citizens have demanded the CCPO to instruct the police to take action against those involved in the preparation of such items.
An elderly remarked that use of crackers by children from the rooftops of their apartments is another bane, as they throw such crackers posing a threat to motorists on the roads.
Similarly, detonating these firecrackers close to infants and sick people, especially heart patients, is extremely dangerous as the explosion could lead to a heart stroke or fluctuation in the heartbeat or palpitation, and this may also prove fatal.
