Accidents or murders?

A wave of shock and sadness spread across Sindh when it was revealed a few days ago that renowned folk singer Allah Dino Khaskheli had died in a road accident after his car collided with an oil tanker in district Tando Allahyar. His sudden departure is a huge loss to Sindhi music as well as a source of lifelong pain for his family and friends. Sadly, roads have become extremely unsafe to drive on, particularly in Sindh, where the provincial administration seems least bothered about this problem.

Statistics on the loss of lives in traffic accidents are shocking. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS), 51,525 people died in road accidents in Pakistan in the years 2004-2013. Of these, 9,639 died in road accidents in Sindh. Data for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 is not available on the PBS website, but daily media reports about road accidents indicate that their occurrence is not decreasing in Sindh. The aforementioned figures show that like terrorism, road accidents have frequently claimed a large number of lives due to the failure of the authorities in controlling traffic on roads. Despite such an alarming situation, one wonders as to why these figures have failed to stir the rulers to call an immediate meeting or conference in this regard? Why are road accidents not being given priority? Moreover, the media has also paid scant attention to this important issue.

These are not just mere figures, but stories of trauma, depression, physical and financial loss, where mothers get deprived of their sons, wives of husband and bread-winners, children of parents’ love and blessings. Entire families are destroyed and negative impacts on family members and close friends are also unlimited, resulting in disturbed emotions. And many of those who survive accidents, come out of them differently-abled. If we take a closer look at the chaos on the roads and violation of traffic rules, these ‘accidents’ are tantamount to murders.

A research on the road accidents reveals that there are five main causes of accidents in Sindh: a) the pathetic condition of roads; b) over-speeding; c) using mobile phones while driving; d) driving under the influence of drugs or drowsiness on the part of the driver; and e) poor monitoring and regulation of traffic on highways. There are two major roads in Sindh: the National Highway/Superhighway and the Indus Highway. There is no motorway in Sindh and the overall network of roads is not up to the mark. Construction of the Karachi-Hyderabad motorway is ongoing, causing huge inconvenience to vehicles as the road is being dug up from everywhere. Heavy trailers in the fast lane do not give way to small vehicles, forcing them to drive on causeways. Often they overtake without indicating in advance. The National Highway and the Motorway Police are not living up to their reputation and public image. If you dare lodge a complaint against the driving of coaches and heavy trailers, it is not taken seriously. Hence, reckless drivers roam unconstrained. The situation has become worse on the Indus Highway, particularly on the Jamshoro-to-Sehwan stretch, where hardly a day passes without accidents. During the last three months, more than 50 people have died in the accidents on this route. This is a single-track road with two-way traffic and is unable to hold the increase in traffic, following the opening of the link road from Aamri to Qazi Ahmed. Heavy traffic heading towards Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa uses the Indus Highway as a shortcut. There is no National Highway or Motorway Police on this route to keep a check on recklessly-driven coaches and trailers.

In the last few months, the Indus Highway has earned the reputation of being a dangerous road. Local administration and civil society activists have written letters to the authorities concerned, requesting the deployment of National Highway and Motorway Police on this route, as well as the expansion of the road into a two-way lane, but this has all been in vain so far. The complacent behaviour of the authorities is worrying. The Sindh government must take stock of the situation in collaboration with the federal government on an urgent basis in order to prevent further loss of lives. If not, then these accidents are nothing short of murders.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2016.

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