by Dr. Khalil Ahmad
This time in the wake of Mehrabpur train accident, the temptation is irresistible. Long ago, perhaps 15 years back, I happened to go along with some kids to an amusement park in Lahore. We bought tickets to enjoy rides etc inside the park. The back of the tickets read as: Ride at your own risk. I was staggered: are not the people running this business responsible for any mishap?
I thought of writing on this way of evading responsibility. The stream of thought also suggested that it was just like living in Pakistan at one’s own risk. But as happens with almost all of us, I forgot to write or ignored it: what if I write something; will it make any difference! Out of many reasons, the most cogent one is: we lack a culture of complaint, or say we do not bother about our rights or freedoms for fear of inviting trouble. Not that we have no time, not that we are coward, not that we are accustomed to injustices, insults, etc; but for the reason that the culture of complaint has entirely been destroyed in our society. (That hints at another serious disease: absence of the rule of law which gives way to the rule of persons in every department!) You go for a complaint and you are snubbed, you are insulted, treated like a criminal. Better stay away at home until the moment you are caught in a trouble yourself!
Now this time it is the tragic Karachi Express accident at Mehrabpur in which about half a hundred people died and hundreds sustained injuries that prompts to highlight the culture of irresponsibility. What makes this accident (December 19) most heart-rending is its proximity to the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha (December 21), the greatest festive event for the Muslims which fell two days after the accident. The train was unusually over-crowded with men, women, and children of all ages who were going to celebrate the Eid with their families. That, as in a responsible society, needed unusual care on the part of Railways establishment.
How and why that accident happened? The news in this regard is no news at all. Some of the victims allege that there were no fish plates. The Railways authorities claim it was no sabotage; surprisingly, they admit that the upcountry track was being repaired. Whether the repair was completed in time, or the work was abandoned in the middle is not clear. Why was it so? Who is responsible? As always happens, probably we will never know this time also.
All this shows our disregard for human life. More than that, it is characteristic of our total failure in following the basic rules of an establishment. Those Gora Sahibs whom we despise so much to this day left us with an efficiently running system of Railways. What we the Kala Sahibs made of this great entity needs no eyes to see. We the ordinary people suffer that. The great loss of lives, and how hundreds of families were thrown into a despair, mourning and utmost grief on this festive occasion tells the sorriest state of governance in Pakistan. This is not the only one, there were so many such incidents and accidents on those bloody Railways tracks in the past also. And, in this case too, we will hear that no one is responsible. Travel at your own risk!
Actually, from a minor accident in which an individual gets bruises to an accident in which the toll of human lives reaches hundreds of men, women and children, no one is responsible. This all happens by itself. Recall the history of Railways accidents, collisions, etc. Was ever anybody declared responsible? Recall road accidents, was anybody held responsible? Recall floods, inundations, etc, was anyone found responsible? Recall bomb blasts, ammunition depot explosions, was ever anyone held responsible? Recall political and military blunders and coups and the toll they took, were there any ones responsible for it? Recall police killings, were ever anyone found responsible? Recall the robberies, dacoities, murders, judicial and extra-judicial killings, tortures; recall the scams, swindling, corruption, but why recall? We have all these before us! How many responsible ones of them were held and punished? Recall the Fokker crash that killed 45 people. Recall the crash of the giant swing in Lahore and the suffering of the kids, was anyone responsible? Recall unfit food, unfit water, unfit fruits, unfit milk, and things like that, is anyone responsible for the harm they inflict to the users of these items. Recall and forget!
This state of affair is a symptom of what’s happening underneath; the causes lie deep down in our legal and value system. A society needs two things to live peacefully: first, laws, and second, moral values. We lack both. We have no rules, laws, constitution to follow; or say, we change and manipulate them to our advantage. Thus, we are free from any responsibility that rules, laws, or a constitution lay upon us. This is diagnosed as the Rule of Lawlessness the zenith of which we witness today. What an irony that no government accepts its duty of establishing and maintaining rule of law responsibly; rather it is the government that has become its greatest enemy.
As to values, we have turned into a society without any values. In other words, it means our supreme value negates all those values that human civilization values most. This value is: Might is Right, discarded by the human society long ago the moment it stepped forward from a life and law of jungle. We are regressing on the scale of human values. Just as many reports and indices rank countries for various achievements, if there be an index ranking countries on the scale of immoral state, probably we will be among the ones on top of the list. We are an Immoral State through and through.
The problem with our attempts to go ahead with reforms etc is that actually every step toward any reformation starts with a certain value, and we loathe following values and laws. What we need direly at this moment is a step toward strict implementation of rules and laws. We need Rule of Law. It is in its implementation that fixing of responsibility, from the bottom to the top, could only be made possible. We know had there been a constitution reigning supreme, laws ruling people and institutions, an independent judiciary working in Pakistan, the Mehrabpur accident would never go unnoticed and the culprits unpunished. But under the circumstances, it will go!
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This article appeared in The Post on December 26, 2007.
