THE news of a Quetta-bound passenger coach having fallen into a ravine in the mountainous range of Danasar on Zhob-Dera Ismail Khan Highway

between Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing at least 20 people, was, to say the least, heart-wrenching. Unfortunately, this is not the first such tragic incident.

While drivers are responsible for these accidents owing to their reckless driving, the government should be held equally responsible for looking the other way despite such tragedies. The road conditions remain as pathetic as they have been for a long time. They have only got worse.

All the government does every time a tragedy strikes is to show sympathies and offer condolences to the aggrieved families. That is considered good enough.

Had such accidents occurred in a developed country with the frequency at which they happen in Pakistan, they would have made front page headlines and the authorities concerned would have resigned from their positions. But, then, we are talking of the civilised world where human life has value and where humans are not treated as herds of cattle.

In Pakistan, the government comes into action only when people take to streets for their fundamental rights. Even then, promises are made to let the dust settle down and then everything gets hushed up and forgotten.

When will the government wake up from its deep slumber and start considering and treating people as human beings? Will it wake up at all?

Zafar Ullah Shah
Harnai

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2022