KARACHI:
Words stand hollow when trying to express the panic and gloom that the stranded tourists in Murree must have experienced in the darkness of night amidst the heavy snowstorm. Twenty-two people died that day due to CO poisoning. Nothing the authorities say can justify such an incident. The administration’s capabilities will certainly be brought to question given that the Met had already forecasted heavy snowstorms in Murree and its surrounding areas. We have a habit of not accepting our failure and instead we try to justify tragic incidents through absurd logic. Had there been arrangements for the predicted snowstorm, these people would still be alive.
The government shouldn’t have allowed such a large number of tourists to enter Murree in the first place. Adding insult to injury was the apathy of the local administration which failed to respond to repeated calls for help by stranded tourists despite the undeniable fact that they were at grave risk. Can there be any justification of such inaptness and negligence? Local residents of the area were also reportedly trying to take benefit of the situation as some asked for Rs5,000 to 10,000 to free stranded cars. Hotels in Murree should also be held responsible for demanding as high as Rs20,000 per night for a single room that is usually around Rs3,000. Reports of such inhumanity are shameful. The only ray of hope was the search and rescue operation carried out by the Pakistan Army immediately after the news about the incident went viral on social media. About a thousand people who were stranded around Jhika Gali, Kashmiri Bazaar, Lower Topa and Kaldana were served hot meals. Hundreds of people were moved to shelters at the Military College Murree, the Supply Depot, the Army Public School and the Army Logistics School. And about 300 tourists were evacuated and shifted to safer places.
Besides this, the Army’s engineers worked tirelessly with heavy machinery to clear the roads which otherwise could have resulted in more tragic deaths if left at the mercy of the local and provincial administration. The promise made by Prime Minister Imran Khan for investigating the incident is welcome, but in order to ensure that such a tragic event never occurs in future there is a need for development, transparency and accountability.
Muhammad Irfan Abbasi
Islamabad
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2022.
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