The occurrence of an abysmal incident in the mid of Keejhar Lake took 10 innocent lives, belonging to the same family, hailing from Karachi-Sindh. The unfortunate boat was carrying 13 picnickers, out of which only 3 have miraculously been rescued. The incident has caused great distress among people across the country because this is not the first awful incident which happened in Keejhar Lake.

Stubborn operators of boats are earning thousands, but they don’t invest even a single penny to save the precious lives of the picnickers. People across Sindh come to visit Keenjhar-Lake along with their families to enjoy special days and holidays. Yesterday’s incident raised a few questions in mind which need to be answered by the authorities concerned: What sort of life protective measures have been taken to ensure the safety of lives? Who has allowed them (boat operators) to float boats in deep water without life-saving equipment? Do the picnickers’ lives matter? If yes, then why was no one provided life-saving jackets? Every time boat operators manage to survive, and this is why they don’t bother to protect others’ lives. The boat operators must be held responsible for all deaths.

I urge the authorities concerned to strictly enforce the law and people who are involved should be punished through proper investigation to save precious picnickers’ lives. Moreover, I request picnickers to just enjoy their picnic in shallow water as their lives can be secured.

FAHAD RIND,

Johi.