KARACHI, Aug 20: First it was the federal communications minister, then the head of the Karachi Port Trust and now it is the Sindh chief minister who is denying the obvious about the effects of the oil spill on Karachi’s shoreline. What else is one to make of his statement made on national television, and dutifully reported in the media that the “situation in the coastal areas will be normalized and the glory of Clifton beach restored in 12 days”.

The Tasman Spirit — a ship broken into two and in danger of sinking — still has thousands of tonnes of oil left in its storage tanks. Perhaps, the reason Mr Mahar has said what he has is because the same people — particularly those at the Karachi Port Trust — who earlier misled the public have now briefed him on the clean-up operation.

Compare this overly optimistic picture with what the International Tankers Owners Pollution Federation has said on the issue. A report in this newspaper on August 20 quoted the federation as saying that the oil spill caused by the grounded vessel comes in the “major” category because over 7,000 tonnes have spilt into the ocean. However, despite this our government functionaries, and now even the Sindh chief minister, insist that everything is all right or at least will be all right in “12 days”.

In fact, the same day a team of local scientists who went close to site of the stranded ship said that oil was continuing to spill into the sea. They reported after their five-hour tour that it was too premature to estimate the impact of the spill mainly because it was difficult to predict with a great degree of certainty important factors like wind direction or weather conditions in the near future.

So who should one believe? A team of scientists who have taken an extensive tour of the source of the oil spill and an international organization involved in combating marine pollution or the Sindh chief minister?

Evidence of mishandling of the situation continues to add up. On August 20, a letter was printed in this newspaper written by a representative of a local charter company. The gentleman, M. Ahmed Faruqi, accused the port authorities of negligence in the days leading to the ship’s break-up. According to Mr Faruqi, a surveying firm had contacted him to conduct an aerial survey of the site of the grounded vessel. He says that the Civil Aviation Authority however thought it wiser to disallow the surveying company’s request, citing “security reasons”. However, the very next day after the oil tanker split into two, the authorities had no choice but to call in an aerial survey team but this time the company hired for the purpose was a foreign one. So much for the CAA’s excuse that no aircraft could fly over the Tasman Spirit because of “security reasons”.

As for the situation becoming normal in “12 days”, perhaps our senior government functionaries would like to know that people even in Defence Phase 6 — near Sultan Masjid, which is quite some distance away from Seaview — could clearly smell the petrol in the air on Tuesday morning.

The last three weeks should have taught the KPT, the Navy, and other agencies that hiding the facts or misleading people doesn’t really help. Even now, it seems thoroughly illogical that the government should insist on saying that the impact of the oil spill will go away in a couple of weeks.

Our elected representatives and state functionaries should know that the adverse consequences of a catastrophe as large as this one cannot be hidden from the public eye for too long. So why not at least be forthright about it and not resort to statements and tactics that insult the intelligence of Karachi’s residents.