A report in Nawa-i-Waqt revealing that there is an acute shortage of trains and planes which has added to the misery of passengers is a sad reflection on the deteriorating state of affairs in Railways and PIA. These government run so-called public transport organisations have become white elephants to all intents and purposes. While the Railways is only left with 75 rickety engines against a need of atleast 1000 engines, the national flag carriers fleet consists of 30 ramshackle aircrafts, most of which are not even technically fit to get airborne. These ageing aircrafts are taken to the technical experts every other day and left at the mercy of the engineers whose poor technical know-how only serves to put the safety of the passengers into jeopardy. For PIAs credibility the last straw was the recent incident in which an aircraft flew off without the backup generator; the disaster was averted by making an emergency landing. The daily financial losses owing to successive managements have turned this organisation into a real liability. Railways currently led by an inept minister presents an equally pathetic picture. During the past four years, there is not one instance of a train that either pulled out from the station or reached its destination in time. No one in the power corridors seems to bother about the dilemma of hundreds of thousands of passengers who need this cheap and safe source of travel. It is worth pointing out that Railways is an artery that links various parts of the country. Indeed it is rightly seen as a basic organ that holds the key to territorial unity of the federation. Therefore, under the circumstances of the sort there should hardly be any doubt that its current neglect is part of a conspiracy to create fissures inside the country on parochial lines in order to weaken the federation and specially sever the links between various provinces particularly Sindh and Punjab. Reports have been circulating in media for a long time now highlighting the state of affairs in both these organisations but the fact that nothing has been done from concerned quarters only confirms the perception that a deliberate destruction of our institutions and organisations is underway.