In recent years, coal mine accidents have regularly been happening in different regions of the country. Only in the current month, two mines have collapsed as a result of explosions inside mines in Balochistan killing at least eight miners. On March 15, two workers died when a blast occurred inside a coal mine in Harnai district of the province. Six others were feared trapped inside the mine. Last week, six coal mine workers died in the Marwar coalfields after they remained trapped inside the mine for a whole day following an explosion caused by a toxic gas. Explosions inside coal mines usually occur due to the accumulation of methane gas, and it is for this reason that canary birds are kept inside mines which lose consciousness when methane gas starts accumulating inside mines. This enables miners to evacuate the mine before an explosion occurs. Accidents also happen due to water seepage in mines.
The Pakistan Labour Federation says that on an average 200 workers are killed in mining accidents every year in the country. According to a study, 430 coal mine workers have been killed since 2010, which experts say is an underestimate. This is happening because most coal mines lack proper safety measures as private owners are, reportedly, not bothered about these issues. Mine inspectors are supposed to regularly inspect safety measures inside and outside coal mines but the mafias operating coal mines manage to keep inspectors away from mines. The government too seems to be not paying the required attention to safety issues. Had it done so, the lives of many workers would have been saved; many would have been protected from injuries. Workers also suffer injuries that leave them permanently paralysed.
Adoption of modern mining technologies prevents accidents to a great extent, but in Pakistan mine owners are not serious about employing modern methods of mining nor are the controlling authorities forcing them to adopt safe mining technologies. This is serious negligence.
Unsavoury attacks
Prime Minister’s Adviser Shahbaz Gill was pelted with eggs and ink during a court appearance, another unsavoury reminder of the state of political discourse in Pakistan. Gill took the attack in his stride, and criticised the opposition for not controlling their supporters. Several PTI leaders also joined in criticising the opposition. This was both understandable and surprising. It was understandable for obvious reasons and surprising because it made us wonder where this outrage when others were on the receiving end.
The attack, incidentally, comes just a few days after PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal took a shoe to the head outside parliament. After that incident, Gill said he and the party condemned such behaviour, but then, in the same breath, started accusing PML-N men of instigating the attack. Of course, we must also point out the irony of the fact that Gill’s court appearance on Monday was as the accused in a defamation suit. But this is not an isolated problem. Federal ministers Shireen Mazari and Hammad Azhar referred to PML-N workers as hooligans and accused party leaders of being responsible for the attack. Mazari also referred to the PML-N’s 1997 attack on the Supreme Court. We wonder what they have to say about the mobs that attacked Parliament House in 2014 and destroyed public property at the Pakistan Secretariat and PTV headquarters.
The fact of the matter is that hooliganism runs deep in every political party. Senior politicians are known to have distributed sweets and celebrated when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged while others mocked the Sharif family when Kulsoom Nawaz was on deathbed. While such behaviour is routinely condemned, little real action follows. Political leaders and party workers who indulge in such vile acts often end up getting ‘promoted’. Each of the last three governments’ federal cabinets has featured such characters. If political leaders really want to reform the system, they must actually punish such behaviour and those instigating it, with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’.
Govt vs ECP
Just about two months back, on January 20 to be precise, opposition leaders and supporters had rallied against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) outside its main office in Islamabad over the delay in the hearing of the foreign funding case against PTI. The protest was seen by the ruling party as an attempt to malign a state institution with a constitutional role. And now, the same PTI alleges that the same state institution has failed to perform its constitutional duties over which the chief election commissioner (CEC) and all its members should collectively resign. And this time it’s the opposition that has come out in the defence of the election commission, calling the PTI’s resignation demand an attack on the state institution. This, by the way, exposes the double standards and contradictions of our politicians, and their tendency to be politically correct all the time, whatever the cost.
The PTI’s resignation demand, meanwhile, contradicts a statement given by the party chairman, Prime Minister Imran Khan, sometime in January this year, expressing full confidence in the incumbent CEC in particular reference with the foreign funding case against him that has only run by fits and starts over the last seven years. A few incidents occurring after that can easily be seen as the cause for the ill-will between the two sides. It actually started off from the Daska bye-election on February 19. The violence and rigging during the polling led to the ECP withholding the bye-election result, and ultimately announcing re-polling in the whole constituency. Then came the commission’s refusal to hold Senate elections under an open ballot — something that helped the PDM candidate win the hotly-contested seat from Islamabad and necessitating a trust vote on the part of the PM. While all this has already generated enough bad blood between the ECP and the ruling party, who knows the former may also be gearing up to fast-track the foreign funding case.
While the government has legal options available in the form of a reference to be sent to the top court for removal of the ECP chairman and members, they have decided to do what our politicians have traditionally been doing in such situations — coming up with a political narrative to confuse the masses and play the victim card.
