Reckless celebrations

The youth, a wise man says, is capable of living dangerously. A variation of this, however, results in tragedy. Independence Day revelries in Lahore cost three young lives besides causing injuries to many others. Most of this happened due to reckless driving, one-wheeling and other stunts. Thirteen people, both men and women, were injured on the night of August 14^th in jubilation firing in various parts of Karachi. The Sindh IG has sought an inquiry report from the zonal DIGs and issued directives for necessary action. No one has so far been arrested in this connection.

Deaths and injuries in celebratory firing on Independence Day, New Year’s Eve, weddings and electoral victories have become common over the years in cities and towns of Pakistan. Though this dangerous phenomenon is being witnessed with increasing intensity, the authorities have so far failed to control it in an effective way. This is borne out by the fact that seldom do we hear of anyone having been arrested on a charge of celebratory firing. Such incidents also point to the presence of large numbers of portable weapons, both licensed and unlicensed, in the country.

The easy availability of portable weapons has become a major problem the world over. We in Pakistan are witnessing a problem similar to the one in the United States. They have the problem of mass shootings; we have the problem of celebratory firing. They have the problem of mass shootings because of lax gun control laws. Ours is due to a lethal combination of procrastination and lack of political will. Our government should come out with workable solutions to eliminate the menace of celebratory firing. Besides the oft-repeated solution of reducing the number of even licensed weapons, one other solution is to make the price of bullets too prohibitive. This has been applied against other evils with good results. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2019.

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