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The shock and horror, the utter beastliness and inhuman attacks on life and property, paralysing life in Karachi brought everything to a standstill. Except that murderous gangs got a free hand to kill, maim, loot, plunder, destroy and set ablaze whatever they could lay their hands on, this became the order of the days following Benazir Bhutto's predicted and warned but still unbelievable assassination.
Politics apart, it was a gruesome tragedy and such an unseemly end to a young and gracious living being, leading to such ugly demonstrations of our collective deranged psyche as a nation of immature and imbecile citizens and state apparatus.
The colossal loss of life, limbs and livelihood, to say nothing of properties, resources, businesses, industries and national or personal assets, is beyond imagination, with no end in sight. Every body fears worse to come, and dreads the consequences to the life of his or dear and near ones - the children, the sick and the old and infirm, to say nothing of the bread-earners themselves. Only no bread can be had any way, with all markets and even petty shops or groceries closed for 3 days running.
Children cant get milk, or the sick their medicines or much needed medical attention; ambulances refusing to attend to emergency calls, as their vehicles have no fuel, gas, petrol or whatever. Even their drivers fear for their lives, apart from the fact that numerous ambulances belonging to Edhi, Cheepa and other philanthropic organisations were torched and destroyed. It looks like a reincarnation of the spirits of Chengiz and Helaku, descending in the shape of our wayward youth, scaring the minions of law and order into oblivion.
Much can be, and no doubt, will be written on the subject. But my purpose today is just to confine myself to the economic aftermath of the unprecedented tragedy befalling us. First day's losses were estimated at more than ten billion in the city of Karachi alone, which in my personal opinion is a gross understatement. Probably the loss of torched vehicles alone exceeds that figure.
The shops burnt or vandalised, buildings destroyed, properties ransacked or fired upon, people killed or maimed, businesses shuttered down for days on end, industry at standstill, railways sabotaged and brought to a complete halt all over the country, domestic air services suspended indefinitely, public transport of any description almost non-existent even private cars confined to garages because of paucity of fuel or fear of stoning or worse, all educational institutions closed, and even the sick stranded without medicines or other medical care.
All this on top of near famine conditions that have descended on the metropolis and much of the country, are hardly any thing to believe, but are happening all around us, like it or not! What the future holds in store for us the sufferers, and the country as a whole, GOD ONLY KNOWS.
To calculate the cost to businesses, industries, insurance companies, banks, transport and shipping organisations, railways, airlines etc, and diversion of the already meagre resources to rehabilitation and reconstruction, to say nothing of the trauma and damage to the future generations, is beyond human capabilities. Only divine intervention can save us from what is sure to follow - the DOOMSDAY.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2007

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