Twenty-two people got into their cars for a weekend getaway the past week to enjoy the snow in Murree but instead they froze to death, waiting for government officials to rescue them. These officials were nowhere in sight as people died trapped in their vehicle by heavy snowfall. It wasn’t until Saturday – 24 hours later – that the government sprang into action to rescue stranded tourists and clear the traffic choked routes. And what was nothing but criminal negligence on part of the government was instead declared a ‘calamity’.
It must be noted that the Met Office had issued an alert on January 5 warning relevant government authorities – the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Rawalpindi district management – that the resort town will experience a snowstorm from January 6 to 9, which will cause road closures from Murree to Naran. But no heed was paid to this warning. Tourists were allowed to flock to Murree in huge numbers – a place that can only host up to 4,000 parked cars, while over 100,000 were permitted – and no disaster management system was in place in case of any mishaps. Instead, the scores of people, unknowingly driving towards their death trap, were seen as an “increase in prosperity and income of common man” by the federal government. And when tragedy struck, the same government apparatus chose to stick to their old tactic of victim-blaming.
The premier, while expressing his shock and grief over the tragedy, said, “Unprecedented snowfall [and] rush of [people] proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district admin[istration] unprepared.” Federal ministers too blamed tourists. But the reality remains that the situation could have been avoided had the government stopped the influx of tourists in a timely manner. Why did they wait for an already bad situation with over 155,000 cars entering the town the past week to get worse? Those 22 people – including 10 children – would have been alive today if help had arrived sooner. Why was a rescue effort launched 24 hours late? Let us not forget that Murree is just mere miles away from the federal capital.
To pin the responsibility on the people and ‘unprecedent’ snowfall is nothing but incompetence on part of the government, especially one which has made tall claims of reviving the tourism sector. No amount of foreign investment or bloggers will help achieve this goal unless local tourism infrastructure is fixed and people’s lives are not left to become just mere statistics.
