The drowning of Mr Shahid Ijaz’s son in River Indus is saddening. Indeed a human can rise above angels as the Pakistani who drowned while rescuing 16th person from Saudi Arabia’s deadly floods or become the lowliest of creatures like the callous fishermen who made no efforts in saving a precious life.
The daring lad who went for swimming in the mighty Indus represents the energy of the youth that is encouraged and channelized in progressive societies through sports, adventures, and tourism etc – the channels sadly missing in our country.
Open swimming i.e., in rivers, lakes and sea is a favorite sport the world over. With a simple life jacket the chances of drowning are almost eliminated. Some basic awareness about this sport needs to be disseminated as sadly many of the people drown within 6-feet deep water. Safety jackets, some basic swimming knowledge and the support system of life guards etc ensures safe swimming and that is why the beaches and lakes in the west are thronged by people of all ages.
Swimming is a top physical activity. For a hot country like ours, open swimming can provide healthy recreation to a great number of people at a fraction of cost that is required for the construction of swimming pools and sports infrastructure. I urge the City Government, sports bodies, Pakistan Navy, Coast Guards and all related departments to safely promote this wonderful sport.
HUSAIN QAZI
Lahore
The channeling of funds for the development of infrastructure related to recreation is need of the hour. Major chunk of the budget is eaten up by the armed forces for no good use. It is high time that Government should take steps to mend ways with the neighbroing country and route the money to public welfare instead of preparing for war.
Comments are closed.