Killing Spree!

Pakistan In Picture

Asem Mustafa Awan

Islamabad: Quenching their thirst on a hot day is their last day. They died in their hundreds and the count will continue as the lake is poisoned and contaminated. This was witnessed a few days ago in Islamabad, the federal capital, when fish and migratory birds were hatching their eggs as summer is breeding season. They died in distress as these voiceless creatures made the world turn around, paying the price with their lives.

Two people carried out a gruesome plot and carcasses were littered everywhere. The two were arrested and are on bail. This tragic episode raised questions in the National Assembly, where parliamentarians asked for stern action against the perpetrators of this cruelty.

The question remains: the ecological disaster committed with such atrocity without a thought needs a thorough probe. This is not the first time; this has happened in the past when the fish were poisoned and still are as the lake is contaminated.

It is unconfirmed that people living down the lake use water for drinking and they mostly represent a segment of society where their lives are unaccounted for. How many of them would die will never get reported as these poor simply don’t matter in the system that is in place to protect the powerful elite, who form only one percent rather than the entire population.

Pakistan has over 80 percent of its population suffering from water-borne diseases, namely hepatitis, and people die accepting it as their fate. The laws exist but when will they be implemented? This is a question that has an answer many lightyears away.

Photos and videos of dead fish and migratory birds exist, and many birds and fish are in excruciating pain. They have been contaminated but has a solution been found or an effort been made to mitigate their suffering? The answer is no. The business continues as usual for those who contaminated the lake in the past and those who are on bail on the current killing spree.

The parliamentarians have raised a question while the outcome is awaited which should have been swift as this treacherous act raised an outcry, but nothing happened.

There are many lives at stake but in the ‘land of the pure’, human life has a little price and the question is, did anyone pursue or look for the people who live downstream and use water coming from the dam? Only time will tell how many will die in the coming days from water contamination and the count will continue till the toxicity subsides.

The world celebrates Food Safety Day (June 7) today but here in Pakistan, the day will dawn with many in pain as the water that is life is not fit for life.

The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad and writes on a wide range of issues.

Photo Credit: Amjad Abbasi