2014 was the deadliest year yet, for the children of Pakistan. The year began with the killing of 19 school children on 15th January 2014 – all pupils of the Bright Future High School in Daulatpur, in the Sindh Province. They were returning home after winning a quiz competition, when their van was crushed under the wheels of Bahria town dumper between Nawabshah and Kazi Ahmed. One year has passed but no action whatsoever has been taken by the Sindh Government since those responsible for these murders are the powerful elite who have close links with both the civil and security establishments.
Like any other tragedy that takes place in Pakistan, this accident received a few condemnations, more promises of setting up of a commission of inquiry, promises of payment of compensation for their legal heirs and so on and so forth but, no cohesive actions were ever taken against the culprits of this treacherous murder of innocent children. Although a year has passed since the fateful accident that took away 19 innocent lives, the driver of the dumper truck has not been arrested to date, nor in the least apprehended. All this, because the arms of the law of the land cannot reach and punish the politically connected elites, who are in turn given certain favours and privileges to act above the law by the authorities. The owner of Bahria town, the much prized estate which is meant only for these elites, has not been named in the filed First Information Report on this incident. Instead, he has been allotted acres of land in interior areas of the Sindh Province. 60,000 acres land in Karachi alone has allotted to this ‘estate tycoon’, another 28,000 acres in Hyderabad, 15,000 in Nawabshah and 10,000 more acres in Sukkur. Another such tycoon, a former clerk, Malik Riaz also rose to fame as the wealthiest man of Pakistan within a decade. During the general election of 2013 Malik Riaz contested for the elections and won, despite the elections were later proved to be rigged. Malik Riaz Hussain, the real estate tycoon is a symbol of corruption and vulture capitalism that epitomizes the mass scale real estate plunder in Pakistan. The State ‘cronies’ are offered estates worth billions of Rupees just to appease them and to seek undue favors in return.
Seeking reprisal for their lost futures, the parents of the deceased children Zahid Hussain Arain, Muhammad Raif, Fakhruddin, Ilyas Khnzada, Ashiq Hussain Shah, Zafar Arain ,Qari Munir and others have vowed resilience to knock at the doors of the higher judiciary and would not allow their children’s lives to have been lost in vain. The aggrieved parents are not only denied justice, but they have not been paid any compensation as yet, from the government or from the culprit responsible for their deaths, Malik Riaz.
Unlike the Peshawar tragedy, the martyrs Syed Israr and his sister Iqra, Atif Hussain, Sadia Bibi, Humera, Yaseen Masood, Hamza, Nouman, Fariha Akram, Mansoorul Haq, Fariha Jamshed, Anees, Yaseen Arain, Uffaq, Arbaz, Hasees, Moazam, Teachers Sharmeen and Qari Bashir and the van’s driver Sachal Korai have been forgotten by the civil society and NGOs in Pakistan. No voice was raised against this gross injustice not even a single national debate was initiated and no demands for justice were made. As if the innocent lives that were taken away mercilessly deserved no remorse, and no sympathy. These were our children too; their deaths should also be mourned and condemned.
Children, who are the future of this country and constitute almost half of the population of Pakistan, are neglected by the State. During the last 25 years, legislation on child rights issues has not received due consideration and commitment by the policy makers. The State of Pakistan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCR) in 1990 and as an effect of ratification the State is under obligation to provide all children with their rights in accordance with the terms of the Convention. Unfortunately, the children in Pakistan are denied their basic rights, right to health and education. Pakistan has the second largest number of out-of-school children in the world as more than 20.5 million children are unable to attend schools and of these, 10.2 million are engaged in child labour.
Articles 35 of the Constitution of Pakistan expressly state that “the State shall protect the marriage, the family, the mother and the child” creating an obligation upon the state by the Constitution alone. There are absolutely no laws existing dealing with safety for school children, no laws governing transportation rules to ensure safety of these children and no compensation what so ever, in the instant their safety is breached. It is extremely unfortunate that despite such incidents becoming a norm, no attention is paid to the safety of our children. In the post Peshawar massacre, schools have been advised to beef up security and school staff members have been encouraged to carry arms; by which the state itself is giving out the vibes that the people will have to take steps to ensure their own safety and that the government cannot guarantee their safety. This is a clear violation of the Constitution of Pakistan.
The Asian Human Right Commission urges the Government of Pakistan to conduct an inquiry into the Nawabshah that took place on 15th January 2014, by appointing an independent judicial commission and to prosecute all those who are responsible for the horrific incident without further delay and to urge the Government of Sindh to provide compensation to the families of the deceased children as a matter of priority.
