EDITORIAL: When seven students — all teenaged boys — and a teacher in the mountainous region of Battagram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) set out for school on Tuesday morning routinely taking a makeshift lift chair to cross a river, two of its three cables snapped precariously, suspending them in mid-air.
Rescue operations turned out to be a Herculean task. As people all across the nation anxiously watched on TV four army helicopters pressed into action. By the evening only two boys — one by the soldiers and other by locals — could be brought to safety.
It took 14 long hours of combined efforts by the Army, some civilian departments, and mostly the local people to rescue all aboard the stranded gondola lift. Whilst the nation breathed out a collective sigh of relief Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq in a post on X (formerly Twitter) thanked Allah that “all kids have been successfully and safely recued”, also expressing his appreciation for the “great teamwork by the military, rescue departments, district administration as well as the local people.”
The incident highlights daily travail people face in traversing short but demanding distances in several remote areas of KP, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir such as Diamer, Skardu, Ghanche, Shigar and Ghizer. To make things easier, as press report points out, local populations have devised gondola lifts, like the one used in Battagram.
The cabins are made from discarded tops of pickup trucks and Suzuki vehicles, and affixed to cables, usually made from scrap iron. These contraptions are also secured with ropes rather than steel cables.
It is not uncommon for the ropes to break and for the local people to save the commuters on self-help basis. Any failed rescue attempts remain unknown and unaccounted for.
Lack of trust in the hazard-prone commute keeps many from benefiting from economic activity in nearby towns, and students, mostly girls, from going to school across rivers. They have remained ignored for far too long with their chances to seek a better life taken away from them. It is about time something is done to improve the conditions in all these areas.
An obvious solution is to invest in construction of roads and bridges. That may not be practicable at once, especially given the prevailing economic situation, but it should find a place in elected governments’ list of priorities. What can and must be done at this point in time is to institute Rescue 1122-like services manned by personnel duly trained to deal with challenges these areas’ difficult terrains present. That will not only help save those caught in a tight spot but also create employment opportunities for local people.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023