saddening Death of a Couple Tourist in Hunza- Irresponsible Behavior of Govt. Servants

By: Sultan Abbas

The death of a recently wed couple from Islamabad, due to a gas suffocation at a local hotel, shocked the entire residents of Karimabad in central Hanza. The young couple had chosen to celebrate their wedding and spend their honeymoon amidst the ever welcoming, smiling and peaceful villagers of the historic town of Baltit, when all the tourists were away due to ferocious winter cold. The lady was an outstanding high achiever as she has recently passed the formidable css exam and landing her a prestigious job in the foreign office.

Reportedly, this AC has used bad language against hotel owners and so on but I believe signalling them for something they can’t be held accountable is not acceptable.

Her husband was also an accomplished young man with a degree in engineering and looking forward to a successful career in life. One can imagine the dreams, the hopes, the expectations, and the plans this young couple must have chalked out for themselves and their families yet the cruel twist of fate took their budding lives.

Being a traditionally welcoming and kind society the locals of Karimabad reached to the hotel where this couple had passed away and everyone there was absolutely sad at this unfortunate scene. Indeed this was an accident and a sad moment of life where none could do anything in front of God’s will so they prayed and sent the dead bodies for ritual of passage.

This sad event took place a couple days ago and today we have this rather uncomfortable news that the assistant commissioner of Hunza visited local hotels and took swift action against hotel owners, as if they were somehow responsible for this disaster.

Reportedly he has sealed Hunza Embassy hotel for inadequate safety measures and fined others for their lack of necessary safeguards. While one would expect the government to be tough on scrupulous and greedy businessmen who don’t pay taxes, or don’t collaborate with the law enforcement on a number of municipal matters but the knee jerk reaction from authorities is inexplicable.

Reportedly, this AC has used bad language against hotel owners and so on but I believe penalising them for something they can’t be held accountable is not acceptable. It’s the government’s responsibility to provide electricity and uninterrupted gas supplies but are they fulfilling their part of the bargain. T

here’s a clear and resounding no! While authorities are sleeping on their part yet they are out to abuse power and punish the locals. A few weeks ago a similar incident of gas leakage claimed lives of two young people in Gulmit. Who could have been held responsible for this? Since this was in a private home hence it was seen as a terrible accident. The government therefore should look at these issues and find robust solutions rather than imposing fines and using high-handed approaches.