It is the responsibility of the state to collect taxes and regulate businesses, health, education, etc, in such a manner that lives, safety and rights of ordinary citizens are not compromised. Both paid bureaucracy and elected government have failed in this constitutional obligation. Illegal commercial structures not conforming to safety regulations, nor meeting mandatory structural strength, exist in every nook and corner of Pakistan, in full know of corrupt and politically influenced regulators, bureaucrats and law enforcement agencies. The four floor factory that collapsed in Sundar Industrial Estate near Lahore was one such building, declared unsafe, yet another floor was being constructed on top and it was none other but an MPA who used his political muscle to silence those responsible for prevention of such criminal acts. Hundreds of poor labourers will die for collective criminal negligence of this culpable homicide by the corrupt bureaucracy.
The lives and liberties of ordinary citizens of Pakistan seem to have no relevance for the state. It was in Lahore cantonment’s posh Cavalry Grounds that 16 year orphan Hamza was killed by a bullet fired by Mustafa Kanju and his private guards and nobody gets prosecuted. Only recently a young journalist Bilal was crushed under wheels of a car driven by son of a DSP in Lahore. In Karachi thousands of citizens have perished in battles for turf, yet in name of political reconciliation murderers have been let off. In September 2012 over 289 innocent labourers were burned alive in a Karachi garment factory which was torched by criminals for refusal to pay extortion and yet nobody has been successfully prosecuted. As long as there is no accountability for what amounts to culpable homicide, such irregularities will continue and other than condemnation by elected public office holders, or announcement of paltry compensation, followed by formation of committees, the status quo prevails.
Even in posh residential society such as DHA Lahore/Karachi, other than few commercial buildings with basement housing big retail stores, there is no fire escape or inbuilt fire fighting and smoke detection safety equipment installed. A private land developer with housing schemes in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, etc, builds residences and commercial projects which are approved by the builder himself, with no approval from statutory regulatory building control agencies.
M TARIQ ALI
Lahore
