As if the car wreck that is the Pakistani state doesn't have enough problems:
..... it is also apparently plagued with crass stupidity (admittedly its not alone in this regard, of which more in a later post).
How else can you explain what happened on Saturday the 25th of July, near the Pakistani city of Ahmedpur East?
A fuel tanker had burst a tire on a bend and rolled over, and there was a small leak from the load it was transporting. Now in the first world we would all be getting as far away as we could from this leaking fuel, even before the police had closed the road and evacuated houses.
But this being the third world and Pakistan, the road remained open with streams of motorbikes and cars swerving past the stricken tanker until the police arrived. The traffic police then tried to keep the crowd away from the tanker. But very soon a large number of people (including women and children), both from local villages, and people from the stopped traffic, started collecting oil in pots and plastic containers. They also made phone calls to their relatives living in other villages to immediately come to collect oil.
What could possibly go wrong? ...
.... well in the words of a spokesman for the rescue worker service: "According to the initial reports, somebody tried to light a cigarette".... yes, you read that correctly. While stood in a pool of spilt oil and with fumes surrounding him (it has to be a man), he decided that now was the moment to use a naked flame to light a cigarette.
The carnage littered the road for several hundred yards. At least 140 people were killed, and many more burnt and injured .... the final death toll figure will undoubtedly rise.
All dying as a testament to just one man's ignorance .... a proud representative of human stupidity.
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| A Testament To One Man's Backwardness And Ignorance. |
- With the Taliban the armed forces support in Afghanistan, exporting that terrorism back into the country.
- I.S. getting a foothold.
- Madrassa's churning out religious hard-liners.
- Government Ministers who egg on attacks against 'Blasphemers', by claiming it is the worst crime in the world.
- Mass ignorance - adult literacy rates are only 56.4% (male 69.6% female 42.7%) ... compare with Bangladesh 61.5% (male 64.6% female 58.5%) and India 72.1% (male 80.9% female 62.8%).
- Social backwardness - blasphemy laws that justify the murder of Shia's, Atheists, and Christians by street mobs.
- A low level war with India, with spying and cross border shootings, as well as sponsored separatist attacks in Indian Kashmir.
- Inter faith violence with the Shia's and Christians regularly attacked for their faiths.
..... it is also apparently plagued with crass stupidity (admittedly its not alone in this regard, of which more in a later post).
How else can you explain what happened on Saturday the 25th of July, near the Pakistani city of Ahmedpur East?
A fuel tanker had burst a tire on a bend and rolled over, and there was a small leak from the load it was transporting. Now in the first world we would all be getting as far away as we could from this leaking fuel, even before the police had closed the road and evacuated houses.
But this being the third world and Pakistan, the road remained open with streams of motorbikes and cars swerving past the stricken tanker until the police arrived. The traffic police then tried to keep the crowd away from the tanker. But very soon a large number of people (including women and children), both from local villages, and people from the stopped traffic, started collecting oil in pots and plastic containers. They also made phone calls to their relatives living in other villages to immediately come to collect oil.
What could possibly go wrong? ...
.... well in the words of a spokesman for the rescue worker service: "According to the initial reports, somebody tried to light a cigarette".... yes, you read that correctly. While stood in a pool of spilt oil and with fumes surrounding him (it has to be a man), he decided that now was the moment to use a naked flame to light a cigarette.
The carnage littered the road for several hundred yards. At least 140 people were killed, and many more burnt and injured .... the final death toll figure will undoubtedly rise.
All dying as a testament to just one man's ignorance .... a proud representative of human stupidity.
That's a bit more than one man's ignorance! Everybody involved, save for those too young to know better, was a bit responsible I would suggest.
ReplyDeleteMy experience of smokers is that they don't see, or ignore, consequences. I see far more cigarette stubs and packets discarded on the pavement than I do other types of litter and don't get me started on their perceived right to pollute the air of others.
DeleteAs an ExSmoker myself I cant claim much of the high ground, but have to enter a plea of mea culpa.
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