The last week’s road accident on national highway in the vicinity of Bahawalpur has already caused more than one hundred and sixty deaths. The toll is likely to rise as some of those hospitalised would not be able to survive the severe injuries they suffered in the inferno caused by the oil tanker explosion. Whenever a tragedy of such proportion strikes, after the initial reaction of shock and awe, the concerned and those not so concerned lose their mind: they start playing political game i.e. the blame game. The buck stops nowhere as it is passed from bottom to top and top to bottom in an unending movement further muddying the already muddied mental space.

Media, always in haste and ready to jump to conclusion, reports local emergency services especially police and district management responded late. The latter declare they responded responsibly in the given situation. Reaching at the scene of the accident after an hour is not such a poor performance after all if you keep in mind that one is sleepy and groggy early in the morning in the holy month of Ramadan. Is it a performance? It’s a criminal negligence, scurrilous media retorts.

Now local political activists enter the scene. If the government of Punjab had cared to allocate the required development budget for this under-developed and underprivileged area, poor people would not have rushed to collect the leaking fuel from the oil tanker. Unfair distribution of resources by successive governments has added to the poverty that created such a horribly disastrous situation for the poor, they allege.

Next appear on the TV screens well-fed and well-dressed ladies and gentlemen who are described pompously as “experts”. Where they got their expertise from, we are never told. Why the Burn Unit at the Bahawal Victoria Hospital was dysfunctional. Had it been functional, many a life would have been saved. Many lost their lives due to non-availability of timely medical aid, they indignantly point out.

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Another ex-diplomat, a ubiquitous presence at the screen, in the good company of ex-bureaucrats and retired military men, lashes out at the vehicle examining authorities for not checking the quality of the tyres of the oil tanker one of which supposedly burst and caused the disaster.

Yet another group from our moral brigade comes out on social media and self-righteously insists that it was nothing but greed that exacerbated the tragic situation. And greed is one of the mortal sins. Those who perished in the fire deserved this kind of fate for harbouring greed.

Political opposition doesn’t lag behind. It smells an opportunity and rushes to the scene with a view to taking political mileage out of humanitarian tragedy. It’s vociferous in its condemnation of incumbent regime for failing to enforce safety standards on the roads and alleviate the poverty which forced the hapless poor to collect the leaked fuel that caught fire.

And when the leading lights of the federal and provincial governments enter the scene they are briefed on the situation by the local administration which conceals while revealing the truth which is a sort of habit with it. The leaders visit the injured in the hospital and direct the medics to provide them all the necessary facilities though the hospital in no way is in a position to offer “all the necessary facilities” due to lack of capacity and budgetary constraints. The leaders meet the bereaved families, condole and offer some financial help. They fly back to their safe havens full of pious hope that the affected somehow would be able to re-build their shattered lives with the “largess” they bestowed upon them from the state coffers.

What is stated above shows us fragments of a picture. If we arrange the fragments with some grueling effort we may be able to take a look at the big picture. But before that asking a few questions will not be out of place. Why media instead of investigating the matter is overly interested in finding scapegoats? Why don’t political activists come out on the streets demanding fair distribution of resources? Fair distribution means allocation of resources based on requirements of each administrative division or district backed by statutory law and hence not dependent on the discretion of chief executive of the province. The “experts” need to be confronted: if the hospital in question is upgraded [which it must be] will the sons and daughters of their ilk show willingness to be posted there? Will ex-diplomats who want the highway officials to ensure the quality of tyres on the road will cooperate if stopped by a police warden when their drivers, sorry, chauffeurs jump traffic lights? Hasn’t moral brigade seen their rich counterparts dressed in their best pouncing on the food in banquet halls on wedding receptions? Obviously it’s not greed, not a mortal sin. It’s culture!

Opposition is well within its right to excoriate the ruling party for failing to develop Bahawalpur region and alleviate poverty. But did they do something when some of them were in power a few years back?

And finally the regime! It has failed to push development and reduce poverty in the region. Dysfunctional burn unit at the hospital shows utter negligence and disregard for human life. And this is a result of ill-conceived policies which showcase big fancy projects in big cities as vote getting gimmicks because of their high visibility. A patient recovering invisibly in some hospital seems to offer no electoral advantage.

Actually it’s the system and its managers that have failed the people. Nobody who is somebody is ready for structural changes in the prevalent system that works to the advantage of a few at the top. What is needed is the policy of “all or none”. Are the movers and shakers, and the people ready to have such a paradigm shift? Obviously not! So happenings will happen and we will continue beating our breast. — soofi01@hotmail.com