Indifference and apathy seem to have become defining characteristics of today’s Pakistani society. This harsh reality is substantiated more often than not in our daily lives when we witness reckless driving taking a heavy toll on human life, metal wire kite-flying turning joy into calamity and open manholes proving to be veritable death traps. Encroachments along the rail tracks are another glaring example of our careless attitude towards life.
In all the big cities and busy towns railway-tracks pass through densely populated slum dwellings and bazaars exposing the residents to the looming danger of being hit by thunderous trains. Children and the old are most prone to tragic incidents. As there are hardly any fences to keep people from crossing the tracks, fatal accidents are common.
Most of these encroachments are the ‘work’ of land mafia who have ‘sold’ the small pieces of railway property to poor people looking for a place to live. ‘Buyers’ of these encroachments have erected one or two rooms with the space between their houses and the track used as courtyards. Children are given free hand to play by or on the tracks.
It fills one with horror to see high-speed trains passing through the hustle and bustle of these congested localities. One wonders why these people have closed their eyes to a danger which is real. However, people living in this dangerous situation are the least bit concerned or so their views reveal. In order to find out what the people of these localities feel about their vulnerability to accidents I interviewed numerous people of some of these high-risk localities in Lahore. Most of them were not too concerned about the gravity of the situation. “We feel no danger. We have adopted ourselves to the situation. To live by the track is part of our life”, said a woman who lives with her five children in a single room accommodation in the cantonment area. “There is a time for death. No one dies before his time”, said another resident.
Open air billiard ‘clubs’ along the track also add to the danger of children being hit by trains as they have to come from across the tracks only a few feet away from the tables. The unscrupulous owners of the ‘clubs’ are only interested in earning money. The life and safety of their innocent customers is not their concern. “I don’t force the children to come here. They come here by their own free will”, said one of the owners of a billiard table placed by the tracks.
Apart from the general of indifference and apathy prevalent in society, there are some hard economic realities which have forced people to embrace dangerous living. At the core lies the acute housing problem. The soaring cost of living has made it impossible for low income groups to pay the rent and utility bills. To own a house is an unattainable ideal for the poor. They settle wherever they find a place to live . “the danger is there. We have taken the risk ourselves. But it cannot be helped. We have no other place to go”, said a resident of Kot Lakpat locality.
Even fatal accidents don’t prompt them to move to a safer place. No matter if the victim may be their own loved one. Nor do they wake up to the danger even after witnessing a tragedy- such is their apathy. Over-awed by residential problems, they seem to have ignored all other considerations.
The situation is worse when schools are located along the tracks. Children come from the other side of the railway lines in large numbers for school. With no overhead bridge or fence along the track to ensure the safety of their lives, an untoward accident is possible at any instant which does occur.
The residents of these localities along the tracks are not the only people who play with their own lives. The ‘gallant’ pedestrians, bike riders or cyclists put themselves at risk as they try to make their way through the ‘loopholes’ when the railway-crossing gate is closed. They are too impatient to wait for the opening of the gate after the train has passed. Still more mind boggling is the recklessness of the people who are seen sitting on the lines of the track for a chat in the evenings, setting a dangerous example for children.
Natural calamities like earthquakes are beyond human control but self-inflicted injuries cannot be laid at the door of fate. We should hold our head in shame and cry when we suffer from a catastrophe of our own making which could have been avoided by exercising care and caution.
The importance a society gives to human life is a gauge of how civilised it is. We have failed this test so far. Human life is an expendable item in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The installation of fences along the tracks and the construction of overhead bridges, at least in the urban areas and busy towns, is desperately needed. It will entail spending but is there anything more precious than human life?
Indifference and apathy seem to have become defining characteristics of today’s Pakistani society. This harsh reality is substantiated more often than not in our daily lives when we witness reckless driving taking a heavy toll on human life, metal wire kite-flying turning joy into calamity and open manholes proving to be veritable death traps. Encroachments along the rail tracks are another glaring example of our careless attitude towards life.
