Life is considered cheap in our country. We gloss over the horrific news of killings and death which has been reduced to mere statistics unless it touches close to home. This has everything to do with bad governance, our lack of education and religiosity, where we conveniently pin such happenings to destiny. A case in point is the aviation scene. Today, none of our airports meet international safety standards, foreign airlines accept grave risks, for commercial considerations, by coming to Pakistan, though the number of carriers coming here have reduced considerably over the last three decades.
Ironically our charges, relating to aviation services, are amongst the highest in the world and most of the money is misused by buying equipment at inflated prices, and then allowing it to break down. Radars, instrument landing systems, communication and fire-fighting equipment are just some of the goodies that enrich officialdom and their benefactors. Two airline crashes in two years, with hundreds of innocent, trusting and unsuspecting lives lost, did not teach any lesson to the corruption riddled PIA and aviation systems. Can the nation expect some changes from the new government? Though we should not be very hope full as these are tried old horses.
AFTAB BUKHARI,
Karachi, May 16.