The miserable tale of Pakistanis who went to Saudi Arabia to perform Umra and got stuck at Jeddah International Airport for over a week missing to be with their near and dear ones on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr should be an eye-opener for authorities. Over 1000 people were left at the mercy of airport authorities who treated them shabbily. Pakistan embassy in Riyadh and consulate staff in Jeddah behaved indifferently instead of offering some assistance or even to console them.
One is not sure if the federal defence or religious affairs ministries would order probe and punish those responsible for such a ruthless handling of innocent men, women and children. Some heads must roll so that repeat of such behaviour could be avoided in future. On the other hand, Pakistan Railways is also in shambles. A large number of trains have already been taken off track due to various reasons and there seems no early restoration of trains on small routes in sight over one pretext or another.
PIA provides services to elite and middle class on domestic routes while trains are a major source of journey of the lower middle class and both have set records of mismanagement and corruption. The federal government must, on priority basis, deal with these problems and make PIA and Railways properly functional.
SAHER QAISER
Karachi
