THERE has been a furore over the negligence and apathy of the government in the wake of the Murree tragedy, and one wonders how we can take care of foreigners interested in exploring the beauty of Pakistan when the official machinery is still unable to provide proper facilities to the local tourists.

But there is another aspect of what recently happened at the hill resort; the selfish behaviour of the opportunists in Murree, especially of those who own businesses at the hill station.

It was heart-wrenching to know that while so many tourists, who had thronged the hill resort from across the country, were treated so badly by the local businessmen, who, instead of extending help in those moments of crisis, cashed in on every opportunity to mint as much money as they could.

While holidaymakers from various cities are always fleeced every year and exploited by the people who own guest houses and hotels, this year, despite the tragic loss of 22 people, the opportunists opted to earn fortunes, demanding astronomical amounts from the haggard visitors.

According to a visitor, who was stranded in Murree and stayed for one night at a hotel, he was charged Rs50,000 and had to hand over his wife’s jewellery to take refuge and survive in that cold.

Is this humanity?

Then there were those who ‘offered’ help to people stranded with their cars covered in snow for pulling the vehicles for Rs3,000. Only those who could afford that much money managed to have their cars moved out of snow. The rest had to spend that dreadful, freezing cold night inside their cars.

The authorities most definitely were not alone in their utter lack of empathy.

Muhammad Zarif
Kech

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2022