The deaths in Murree

At least 20 people, possibly many more, stranded in their vehicles succumbed to carbon dioxide poisoning over the weekend as their vehicles got trapped in snow and, instead of being rescued, were left on their own by the Murree administration. In most instances the cause of death was that when the vehicles were engulfed in the snow, the engines kept running because of which the occupants inhaled carbon monoxide — an odorless, tasteless, poisonous gas formed when carbons from fuels burn incompletely. This happened because the exhaust pipe was blocked, and the gas entered the passenger section of the vehicle where the windows were already closed owing to the snow. This could have been prevented.

As usual, Sheikh Rasheed, the clueless interior minister, said that the death occurred because of extreme weather during a snowstorm in Murree on Friday night. That is a lie. Snowstorms take place all over the world. People do not die in their cars as a consequence.

Unlike those of the ruling party who claim that nothing could have been done to save the victims, the two quarters that can be blamed are the Murree district administration and residents of Murree.

The administration could have ensured that its emergency services evacuate the occupants of these cars. This did not happen. Despite the snowstorm, the administration is equipped to handle such situations and instead of sitting idle, it should have immediately sprung into action. This they did not do. Despite the fact that they were aware of the dangers people were faced with.

The other quarter that could have helped but didn’t are the people of Murree. Sad to say, but over the years, the residents of Murree — many of whom are themselves outsiders — are used to taking advantage of the rise in tourism in the areas around Murree. Keep aside stories that tourists were being charged as high as Rs20,000 per night during the storm for rooms that would otherwise go for Rs3,000, the shameless people made money in many other ways on the misery of others. In the case of the stranded cars, some locals asked for between Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 to free these cars.

No inquiry can determine greed and inhumanity. But this we saw in Murree over the weekend. To be fair, this is not the first time. In the past as well, we have seen how the people of this area have fleeced and harassed tourists time and again. In the past as well, when thieving Murree shopkeepers attacked innocent visitors there were calls for a boycott of this hill resort.

Let us now put things in perspective. When the Prime Minister talks about promoting tourism in Pakistan, the question is where to start. The way things work, in many instances the tourism industry of the hill stations thinks of tourists only as people who can be fleeced. And fleece they do. There are no fixed rates for anything — whether it is hotels, transportation, food or even entertainment, which by the way in most instances is substandard.

Over the years we continue to see the proliferation of cheaply designed and structurally weak hotels and restaurants in the hill stations. There is no authority that checks the activities of such ventures — not a surprise given that most of them are owned by the high and mighty of Punjab and K-P. How can genuine tourism grow in such circumstances?

Take the deaths over the weekend as an example of the incompetence of both federal and provincial governments. What did the Punjab government do? It imposed an emergency. What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar ordered the government guest houses in the area to give refuge to the stranded tourists. Nothing of the sort happened. All one has to do is ask those tourists who were caught up in the storm. Almost all had to fend for themselves.

In his statement, Buzdar said that evacuating the stranded tourists is the top priority of the government, adding that the tourists are being provided with necessary relief items, including food. This also did not happen.

Will any lessons be learnt? Probably not. No inquiry can address the most basic problem of all — the lack of humanity in the people. Where do we start with that?

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10, 2022.

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