Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Disregard for human life
A group photograph of 9 people has been published, showing CM Punjab receiving the report on Murree Tragedy, in which officially 23 citizens lost their lives because of the callous disregard to safety of citizens and criminal negligence of those hired by the state to protect their lives. This should have been a sombre occasion, not an occasion to be publicized, with a few members smiling, in utter disregard for the sentiments of those who lost their kith and kin.
A nation state is defined as a geographically contiguous region, in which citizens with diverse ethnicities and even faiths may live. Institutions are created, funded by taxpayers to serve and protect them.
This criminal negligence by the paid servants of the state in Murree, should have been considered culpable homicide, worthy of stricter punishment, then mere suspension of service, with full pay, only to be rehabilitated later with different posting. Why should life of an ordinary citizen not matter to the state and the powers that matter?
There seems to be one law for the rich and powerful and another for the vast majority of citizens. The 25 December 2012 murder of Shahzeb Khan by Shahrukh Jatoi and Siraj Talpur and the manner in which the trial was conducted and the murderers passing their prison sentence is a sad reflection on the decadent system.
Compare this to the response by the State to the failed assassination attempt on former President in uniform Musharraf in 2003. In both cases, those involved were given capital punishment that they deserved.
We have witnessed callous disregard in the January 2019 Sahiwal incident in which a couple, their neighbour and a teenage daughter were brutally killed in broad daylight allegedly by CTD.
There are numerous such shameful incidents. The trial of Noor Muqaddam murder is another case of interest.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore
Private schools in interior Sindh
Education and literacy are the very weapons that can be used to cater to the problems in a democratic society. It imbues a crescendo of enthusiasm and zeal to do something extraordinary for oneself and for the betterment of the nation.
Nevertheless, the education system of Pakistan is thoroughly sluggish, dismal and deeply problematic. It manifests itself in copious/different forms— notably, government and private systems. Apparently, upper and lower levels of education are posing a storm of threats to the country, and destabilizing its education system to accomplish the acme of development.
Scrutinizing the privatization in interior Sindh, the standard of education is extremely horrendous, ghastly and vulnerable. Talking about District Kashmore Tehsil Kandhkot, private schools are under the clutches of private mafias that are deteriorating and destroying the academic career of students of different levels——primary and secondary level.
Without doling out standard and quality education, they are merely charging and devouring hefty fee from students. Needless to mention, private schools in Kandhkot are too lethargic, careless, abject and amiss to embellish the intellectual approach of the secondary level students who can prove themselves competent at national levels at any conscientious tussle or event.
Consequently, the dismal and futile way of inculcating and articulating education are extremely plunging the students into pangs of academic crisis in interior Sindh—making them too lethargic and lackadaisical to serve the nation/society. Moreover, private mafias are conspicuously enervating the vigour of students to attain the prodigious feat of double-dome.
Briefly, the career of students in interior Sindh, like Kashmore and Kandhkot, is at the verge of apocalypse and destruction. Their academic career is being exploited by the private mafias. There is a need for robust efforts from concerned authorities to rejuvenate private mafias who are crippling and rupturing the career of students.
NASRULLAH KHADIM
Kandhkot, Sindh
Murreeites
are faulty (?)
Though this scribe doesn’t belong to Murree, yet compelled to pen down some facts about the Murree tragedy which has hurt the majority of human-beings. Most deaths occurred due to cold and carbon monoxide and this could be avoidable, to some extent, if suitable guidance was provided to tourists by launching an immediate rescue operation. The most shocking was the fact that the Pak Army was not informed about the situation which always comes forward befittingly!!
The unethical and defaming attitude given by the hotel-management (80% of powerful mafia) has caused unacceptable damage to the reputation of the locals. People of Murree can’t be blamed as-a-whole, accept culprits like chain-mafia. And, they must be chained with the same chains and on the same site without further inquiry so that in future nobody dares to do so!!
Sufficient witnesses are available that Murreeites stood on high moral grounds and reached the places where tourists were stuck. They (like Al Khidmat Foundation and Murree Development Forum) not only provided the stranded tourists food and shelter but also helped them safely move back to Islamabad. They really deserve appreciation. They remained involved till last in all rescue operations and managed to help people with all possible means de facto.
The pith and marrow of the tragedy is to fix exemplary punishment to so-called- public-servants, so that nobody dares for such slackness in future. And let’s say Murreeites are not faulty as perceived. This is the best way for maintaining strong-chain-of-humanity certainly!!
M AZAM MINAS
Tatrinote, AK
