“Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un” (Certainly, to Allah we belong and to Him we will return).
Gull Plaza in Karachi has burnt to ashes. Billions in funding have was mud, and most tragically, a number of treasured human lives have been extinguished eternally. However the query stays: Was this actually an “accident”? Or was this a catastrophe we had been ready for all alongside?
Accident or Felony Negligence?: If any respected engineering agency on the earth have been to examine these buildings, they’d declare them a “Demise Entice” right away. Dilapidated constructions, no emergency evacuation routes, and no hearth suppression methods. We’re obsessive about just one factor: “Maintain incomes, maintain increasing outlets.”
Relating to security, our nationwide narrative takes over: “Allah is the Protector, He’ll deal with it.” We overlook that Allah has additionally commanded us to make use of our mind. This isn’t religion (Tawakkul); that is suicide.
Infrastructure and Govt Apathy: From the City Nazim to the Mayor, Chief Minister, Prime Minister, and highly effective circles-no single establishment is delivering outcomes. Your entire infrastructure has collapsed.
Within the fashionable world, buildings endure annual “Security Audits.” If hearth gear is lacking, the store is sealed.
Right here, clusters of tangled wires on poles are an open invitation to dying.
Sewers are overflowing, and roads are damaged.
The Famine of Talent and Mind Drain: Essentially the most harmful facet is that our expert and succesful workforce is fleeing overseas in despair. We’re left solely with the “unskilled.”
Our firefighters lack fashionable coaching and gear, so the hearth doesn’t get extinguished.
The highway engineers are incompetent, so the roads wash away within the first rain.
There aren’t any vocational institutes to supply inexpensive coaching. The consequence? The sweeper can’t clear the gutter, the electrician can’t repair the wire, and the farmer can’t develop the crop effectively.
Rich Rulers, Poor Plenty, and a Ruined Metropolis: On one hand, the town is burning, and persons are ravenous for primary facilities. Then again, the ruling elite spends tens of millions on wedding ceremony outfits and billions on decorations for his or her youngsters. This elite class is united in defending each other, however for the general public, they’ve solely “hole phrases.”
The Homicide of Fashionable Planning: The world over, previous “Downtowns” are preserved, and new cities are established. Right here, fashionable initiatives like Bahria City, which might have served as a mannequin for different life and satellite tv for pc cities, have been destroyed as a consequence of private vendettas and political pursuits. As a substitute of constructing ten extra such cities to alleviate the burden on previous Karachi, we blocked the trail to modernity.
What Occurs Subsequent? The Identical Previous Story: Officers will arrive, make somber faces for the cameras, kind an inquiry committee, announce some compensation (which can by no means be paid), after which everybody will overlook… till the subsequent tragedy. As a result of in a crowd of 260 million, a couple of misplaced lives are, to them, like “salt in flour”-negligible.
The Manner Ahead (The Answer): If we really wish to break this cycle of destruction, these emergency measures are required:
1. Institution of Satellite tv for pc Cities: Wholesale markets within the previous metropolis have to be instantly shifted to fashionable “Industrial Zones” or satellite tv for pc cities exterior the town, outfitted with parking, hearth security, and large roads.
2. Necessary Fireplace Security Coaching: “Civil Protection Coaching” and the set up of fireside extinguishers have to be made obligatory for each shopkeeper and dealer, topic to an annual audit.
3. Technical Coaching Institutes: The federal government should open free technical coaching facilities in each city on an emergency foundation to supply expert firefighters, electricians, and employees.
4. Insurance coverage Tradition: Enterprise with out insurance coverage is remarkable in the remainder of the world. It have to be made legally obligatory right here in order that merchants don’t find yourself on the streets in case of a loss.
5. Politics-Free Growth: Fashionable housing and industrial initiatives (like Bahria City, and so forth.) needs to be regulated and supported slightly than being focused for political revenge, so {that a} community of contemporary infrastructure could be laid throughout the town.
The choice is ours. Can we wish to change into a part of the trendy world, or will we wish to sit on piles of ashes and mourn eternally?
