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| Indifference & Callousness leads to the Death of 22 civilians near Muree Cantonment in Pakistan | | | 
Ankit Kessar
At least 22 tourists including 10 children froze to death in stranded vehicles, which were trapped in heavy snowfall just meters away from an Army cantonment in Pakistan’s Murree hill station in Rawalpindi district.
On the 7/8 January, thousands of vehicles were left stranded at Murree in a massive traffic jam caused due to an unscheduled convoy movement of Pakistan Army. Heavy snowfall had started by the time roads were opened for general public after the convoy movement ended, mforcing the tourists to spend the night in their cars that went stuck under several feet snow.
Muree cantonment was mere 100mtrs from the site of the tragedy. This incident of callousness from the Pakistan Army has send shockwaves in Pakistan triggering massive backlash on the social media. Visuals and photographs of the long queue of frozen vehicles just outside the cantonment with no assistance from the Army personnel stationed inside the cantonment has also forced top federal ministers to come to the rescue and diffuse the situation. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed blamed a sudden rush of tourists to the spot almost after 15 to 20 years for the crisis.
Expressing heartfelt condolences over the deaths, Sindh’s top leader and founder of MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement), came down heavily on the Pakistan Army and senior officials for their negligence that led to the death of the tourists at Murree. Without mincing his words, Hussian said that the responsibility of the “mass killings” in the Murree tragedy lies with the Army Generals and senior officers. He maintained that the civilians were left to freeze and die while the top military brass was busy minting and looting the tax payer’s money.
Several leading Pakistani journalists maintained that the trapped tourists had been calling the emergency numbers of government and administration but none came to their rescue.
In contrast with the gross indifference of the Pakistan Army, Social activists and journalists shared visuals of the assistance Indian Army extends to its citizens in the hour of crisis. The social media users in particular shared images and videos of the Indian Army helping the people in the Kashmir valley during the natural calamities of floods, avalanche, snowfall etc. Videos also circulated showing the soldiers of Indian Army carrying old citizens, pregnant women and children through snow laden roads to safety.
The above incident has also exposed the failure of the PTI led Imran Khan who became Prime Minister in 2018 with the blatant interference of Army. He blamed the tourists for arriving in huge numbers in the Hill station without checking the weather predictions. Calling his statement insensitive, the netizens and social activists have slammed his remarks.
Bushra Gohar, a former Member of Parliament, urged the Prime Minister to stop blaming victims of the tragedy. “It is because of your #PuppetGovernment’s callousness, incompetence (and) mismanagement. “Accept responsibility and resign. Enough!” she said, alongside hashtags “LivesMatter”, “ArrestBrandKhan” and “GayaPakistan”.
Taking to his Twitter handle, PML-N Vice President Pervaiz Rasheed demanded Khan to take his “ruthless, cruel and stupid” tweet back. PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb wrote: “This statement is the height of (your) indifference, cruelty, and incompetence.” Lashing out further at the premier, she said that “corruption” and “incompetence” aside, Khan should resign after blaming those who lost their lives.
The tragedy that unfolded in Muree has further alienated the Pakistani Military Establishment from the people it claims to represent. The gross negligence & indifference of the Pakistani army personnel located just 100 meters away from the site of the tragic incident coupled by the insensitivity of the Prime Minster imposed by the Army on the people of the Pakistan has further widened the difference between the people of Pakistan and its rulers both military & civilians. |
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