LEBANESE Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced his government’s resignation on Monday amid popular outrage over the deadly Beirut port explosion that has reignited angry street protests. His announcement came even as security forces in central Beirut clashed again with protesters demanding an end to an entrenched political system widely seen as inept, corrupt and dominated by sectarian interests and family dynasties.
Credit really goes to Lebanese Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad who took the lead in announcing her resignation from the cabinet saying the government failed to live up to aspirations of the people. Shortly after, Environment Minister Damianos Kattar also resigned from his post and afterwards, at a cabinet meeting, several other ministers also indicated to follow the suit, leaving no choice for the Prime Minister but to quit. However, going by the fact that there are hardly examples of leaving jobs in the third world countries even in the face of miserable performance and grave tragedies, the decision of the Lebanese Government is step in the right direction. But loss of 158 precious lives, injuries to over six thousand people and widespread destruction caused to the capital demands a fair probe and fixation of responsibility as to why such large quantities of ammonium nitrate were allowed to be stored in port area and that too in unsafe conditions. As the chemical is widely used around the world, as a fertilizer or for explosives in mining, different countries of the globe have initiated inquiries about its storage and are taking precautionary measures to avoid any mishap. We would demand that similar inquiries/studies should be conducted in Pakistan as well to know how the chemical is handled and stored and what should be done to prevent Beirut like catastrophe.
