Blame-game unleashed after Karachi disaster

ISLAMABAD: If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, the Pakistani leaders play blame-games as terror strikes. The attack on the Karachi airport on Sunday night granted them another opportunity to settle scores with each other.
There is neither any likelihood of introspection nor any head will be rolled for negligence. There is nobody to lead by example. They are instead interested in making an example of each other through verbal onslaught.

Ironically, all those gunning at each other have been in the government at the provincial/federal level and failed to preempt the terrorist attacks. But when it comes to teaching others, they turn out to be Socrates.

The terrorists struck at the airport exposing the inefficiency of the government at the international level. Already, several foreign airlines have either closed down or suspended operations in Pakistan; the latest attack may serve yet another blow to the country.

The Taliban chose to attack the airport of Pakistan’s biggest commercial hub, Karachi, a turbulent city where better law and order has become a distant dream. In February this year, the Wall Street Journal quoting police officials had revealed that one-third of Karachi was under the control of Taliban, a report the government denied in a routine manner.

This is a story of the city where private security guards outnumber the police. There are 27,000 police officials (majority recruited on political basis), a figure in contrast with the numbers of private guards, 55,000. Earlier, a US diplomatic cable revealed that a political party’s militant wing has more members than the city police.

The IG Sindh on Monday absolved himself of any responsibility for the airport attack and instead demanded appreciation for doing his best with a limited number of cops.

The Sindh Information Minister, Sharjeel Memon, has saved the provincial government from any blame saying that the airport was a subject of the federal government as if the Sindh government has set a very good example of law and order in Karachi that remained closed for a couple of days after the arrest of MQM leader Altaf Hussain in London.

The Karachiites were in panic soon after the news broke about the arrest, fearing the development in London would have a snowball effect in Karachi. Instead of taking care of citizens, the top government functionaries started to take the lead in running away from their offices.

The chief secretary, home secretary and prosecutor general Sindh were the first to leave the Secretariat and their guards were seen gunning at the commoners to vacate their exit path, according to Imdad Soomro, The News correspondent who was present there at that time. Soomro himself couldn’t reach his home and had to spend three days with a friend somewhere else due to the road blockade.

Living to its reputation, the PTI leadership didn’t miss this opportunity of indulging in blame-game as if Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been declared a model province in terms of law and order. Imran has condemned the attack and lambasted the federal government for failing to establish its writ.

Almost a year ago, terrorists broke into the Dera Ismail Khan Jail to take away some of their detained colleagues, other than slaughtering some prisoners who belonged to a minority sect. Before the PTI government, the Bannu jail was attacked in a similar fashion when the ANP was at the helm of affairs. Imran Khan had then demanded the resignation of the incumbent government. However, he called for introspection and vowed to fix the responsibility after the DI Khan jail break.

A commission was set up to investigate the incident that submitted its report in December last year which was also partly released. No action has been taken yet. The report also disclosed that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak was passed on the intelligence about the likely attack on the jail but he didn’t care to read it, let alone taking preemptive measures. This is another story that the army had taken some steps; nevertheless the incident could not be avoided.

In contrast to the PTI’s outcry over the Karachi attack and condemnation of the federal government, the PML-N reacted outright differently after the DI Khan jail break. No statement was issued to settle score with the PTI government for its negligence. Instead, a senior government official privately admitted the eroding writ of the state, no matter the venue fell in provincial or federal government’s jurisdiction. A minister, while commenting on the jail break, had then said: “Taliban wanted to attack there and they did. Had they planned it for Adiala Jail, nobody could have stopped them there as well.”

This honest admission was a grim reminder of the weakening state and the government’s pessimistic approach towards tackling it. Earlier, terrorists had attacked the GHQ in 2009. It was carried out six months after the Punjab Police’s Special Branch had conveyed a report about it. The police had intercepted an explosive-laden truck in Dera Ghazi Khan and also recovered a USB from the driver wherein the TTP had chalked out a plan of targeting different vital installations and the GHQ was one of them.

Maulana Ahmed Ludhyanvi and Malik Ishaq were airlifted by the army from Multan and Rahimyar Khan for negotiating with the terrorists as they were affiliated with their splinter groups.

While the Karachi airport is a subject of the Defence Ministry, the minister in-charge has been found nowhere on the scene. He could have made no difference had he even been on the forefront. This incident is another example of intelligence failure. Our agencies have got more important assignments than tackling terrorism. While we are fighting each other, terrorists are playing havoc with the country.

S Korean president ‘sorry’ for ferry disaster

SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geun-Hye apologised Tuesday for her government´s failure to combat systemic and regulatory "evils" blamed for the loss of about 300 lives in a ferry disaster.

Two days after her prime minister resigned over the tragedy, Park´s comments are another attempt to defuse growing public anger about the April 16 sinking of the 6,825-tonne Sewol.

"I don´t know how to apologise for the failure to prevent this accident, and for the insufficient first response," Park said in a statement to her cabinet that was broadcast on national television.

"I am sorry to the people and heavy-hearted that many precious lives were lost."

Park´s government has been widely criticised over perceived corruption and lax safety standards that may have led to the disaster, with claims that the ferry was overloaded and that the passenger list was inaccurate and incomplete.

Echoing words used by Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won when he fell on his sword on Sunday, Park blamed systemic and regulatory failings for one of South Korea´s worst ever maritime tragedies.

"I feel so regretful for having been unable to correct such long-running evils and letting an accident like this take place," she said.

Park accepted Chung´s resignation but ordered him to remain in office until the recovery operation was completed.

Earlier Tuesday, the president had travelled to Ansan, just south of Seoul, where she paid her respects at a memorial for the schoolchildren who died in the disaster.

Of the 476 people on board the Sewol, 325 were students from the same high school in Ansan. Only 75 of them were rescued.

But in a sign of the boiling anger felt by relatives of the missing and the dead, there were shouted demands for her floral tribute to be removed from the shrine, and reports the president had been jostled.

The confirmed death toll from the accident, which took place several hundred kilometres (miles) south of Ansan, stood at 193, with 109 people still missing.

Search mission spokesman Koh Myung-Seok said divers had worked their way through passenger cabins on the fourth and fifth levels of the submerged ferry on Tuesday, recovering four more bodies.

 

South Korean PM resigns over ferry disaster

SEOUL: South Korea´s prime minister resigned Sunday, blaming corruption and "deep-rooted evil" for the sinking of a passenger ferry that left 300 people dead or missing, as anger grows over the bungled response to the tragedy.

Chung Hong-Won admitted he had not been up to the task of overseeing rescue operations after the Sewol capsized with 476 people -- many of them schoolchildren -- on board.

"I offer my apology for having been unable to prevent this accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards," he said. "I believed I, as the prime minister, certainly had to take responsibility and resign.

"Parents and relatives of the missing and the dead have blasted the response to the sinking, saying the rescue was too slow to swing into action and this may have cost lives. There has also been rage over perceived corruption and lax safety standards that may have led to the disaster, with claims that the ferry was overloaded and the passenger list was inaccurate and incomplete.

"Looking at the latest accident I came to a painful realisation that there is too much deep-rooted evil and corruption in our society," Chung said. "I hope that such wrongdoings will be rooted out this time so that an accident like this will never happen again.

"The role of prime minister is largely ceremonial in South Korea, with the presidency holding the lion´s share of executive power.

In Jindo, the nearest island to the wreck, relatives of the dead and missing were unimpressed. "So what?" snapped Ji Hyung-Soo. "My son is there in the sea. His resignation will never ease my bitterness and sadness. "Anybody responsible for this disaster must be punished severely, but the most urgent thing to do now is to recover the bodies as soon as possible. I´m not interested in anything else.

"Prosecutors looking to mete out the justice that relatives want raided the offices of state sea traffic controllers in Jeju island on Sunday, the intended destination of the Sewol, and in Jindo. They seized records of radio communication with the Sewol and surveillance video footage, Yonhap said. A transcript of communication released earlier revealed panic and indecision among crew and sea traffic controllers in the crucial final moments, with neither able to make the call to evacuate passengers.

The confirmed death toll from the tragedy remained Sunday at 187. A total of 115 people are still unaccounted for, with many bodies believed trapped in the sunken vessel. Divers were battling decompression sickness and atrocious weather in their grim search for corpses. Further complicating their efforts was the increasing depth of the wreck as it slips slowly into the silt of the seabed, making an already dangerous diving operation even more hazardous.

Despite waves up to three metres (nine feet) and near gale-force winds, teams were still trying to search the ferry. A coastguard spokesman said 98 frogmen were trying to get into rooms on the fourth deck of the 6,825-tonne Sewol, but he warned the operation was hard. "As the ship has sunk further... the diving depth has also increased to more than 40 metres (130 feet), posing even more difficulties for search efforts.

"A growing number of divers are reporting decompression sickness," he said. Pressure rises as divers go deeper, increasing the amount of air they breathe from their tanks. This not only reduces dive time, but also heightens levels of nitrogen in their bloodstream, raising the risk of potentially harmful bubbles forming in body tissue.

Strong underwater currents, poor visibility and waterlogged debris were making conditions inside the ferry treacherous, coastguard chief Kim Seok-Kyun said on Sunday. "Hallways and cabins are packed with carpets and blankets swollen by water as well as furniture, blocking entry by divers and making search efforts even more difficult," he said.

Yonhap news agency, citing one rescue worker, said divers were having to blindly stick their hands into clumps of floating objects to fumble for bodies.

On the surface recriminations continue, with four more of the ship´s crew arrested on Saturday. Their arrest means all 15 surviving crew members responsible for sailing the vessel are in custody, facing charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.

Prosecutors have also raided a host of businesses affiliated with the ferry operator, the Chonghaejin Marine Company, as part of an overall probe into corrupt management. The widening investigation has seen travel bans imposed on eight current and former executives of the Korea Register of Shipping -- the body responsible for issuing marine safety certificates.

South Korean PM resigns over ferry disaster

SEOUL: South Korea´s prime minister resigned Sunday, blaming corruption and "deep-rooted evil" for the sinking of a passenger ferry that left 300 people dead or missing, as anger grows over the bungled response to the tragedy.

Chung Hong-Won admitted he had not been up to the task of overseeing rescue operations after the Sewol capsized with 476 people -- many of them schoolchildren -- on board.

"I offer my apology for having been unable to prevent this accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards," he said. "I believed I, as the prime minister, certainly had to take responsibility and resign.

"Parents and relatives of the missing and the dead have blasted the response to the sinking, saying the rescue was too slow to swing into action and this may have cost lives. There has also been rage over perceived corruption and lax safety standards that may have led to the disaster, with claims that the ferry was overloaded and the passenger list was inaccurate and incomplete.

"Looking at the latest accident I came to a painful realisation that there is too much deep-rooted evil and corruption in our society," Chung said. "I hope that such wrongdoings will be rooted out this time so that an accident like this will never happen again.

"The role of prime minister is largely ceremonial in South Korea, with the presidency holding the lion´s share of executive power.

In Jindo, the nearest island to the wreck, relatives of the dead and missing were unimpressed. "So what?" snapped Ji Hyung-Soo. "My son is there in the sea. His resignation will never ease my bitterness and sadness. "Anybody responsible for this disaster must be punished severely, but the most urgent thing to do now is to recover the bodies as soon as possible. I´m not interested in anything else.

"Prosecutors looking to mete out the justice that relatives want raided the offices of state sea traffic controllers in Jeju island on Sunday, the intended destination of the Sewol, and in Jindo. They seized records of radio communication with the Sewol and surveillance video footage, Yonhap said. A transcript of communication released earlier revealed panic and indecision among crew and sea traffic controllers in the crucial final moments, with neither able to make the call to evacuate passengers.

The confirmed death toll from the tragedy remained Sunday at 187. A total of 115 people are still unaccounted for, with many bodies believed trapped in the sunken vessel. Divers were battling decompression sickness and atrocious weather in their grim search for corpses. Further complicating their efforts was the increasing depth of the wreck as it slips slowly into the silt of the seabed, making an already dangerous diving operation even more hazardous.

Despite waves up to three metres (nine feet) and near gale-force winds, teams were still trying to search the ferry. A coastguard spokesman said 98 frogmen were trying to get into rooms on the fourth deck of the 6,825-tonne Sewol, but he warned the operation was hard. "As the ship has sunk further... the diving depth has also increased to more than 40 metres (130 feet), posing even more difficulties for search efforts.

"A growing number of divers are reporting decompression sickness," he said. Pressure rises as divers go deeper, increasing the amount of air they breathe from their tanks. This not only reduces dive time, but also heightens levels of nitrogen in their bloodstream, raising the risk of potentially harmful bubbles forming in body tissue.

Strong underwater currents, poor visibility and waterlogged debris were making conditions inside the ferry treacherous, coastguard chief Kim Seok-Kyun said on Sunday. "Hallways and cabins are packed with carpets and blankets swollen by water as well as furniture, blocking entry by divers and making search efforts even more difficult," he said.

Yonhap news agency, citing one rescue worker, said divers were having to blindly stick their hands into clumps of floating objects to fumble for bodies.

On the surface recriminations continue, with four more of the ship´s crew arrested on Saturday. Their arrest means all 15 surviving crew members responsible for sailing the vessel are in custody, facing charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.

Prosecutors have also raided a host of businesses affiliated with the ferry operator, the Chonghaejin Marine Company, as part of an overall probe into corrupt management. The widening investigation has seen travel bans imposed on eight current and former executives of the Korea Register of Shipping -- the body responsible for issuing marine safety certificates.

Khursheed warns of disaster if something happens to Bilawal

 

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah has said that there would be a disaster if something happened to Bilawal Bhutto.
He said that an anchor of a private television channel was attacked in Lahore the day after Bilawal Bhutto received an intimidating letter.Talking to the media here, he asked how Bilawal could undertake a visit to the Punjab under these circumstances.

The Punjab government should take suitable steps in this regard, he said. He said that Zardari never applied for the return of any locket and Benazir Bhutto had also denied any connection with any such locket. The jeweller had also confirmed what Benazir had said.

He said former president Pervez Musharraf had become a bone stuck in the throat of the government. “If he goes out ofthe country, there will be no harm because people have gone out of the country earlier also,” he said.Shah advised Hamza Shahbaz to avoid issuing statements instigating differences amongst the political parties because brotherhood between them should continue.

He refuted the news of Bilawal becoming the chief minister of Sindh. He explained that the PPP was a party at the federation level and not a provincial party. Bilawal would come at the federal level.

Referring to the talks process between the Taliban and the government, he said so far they had not been taken into confidence. “We have come to know about the talks process through newspapers,” he said. He said similar talks should also he held with the Baloch leaders.