Poor response: Peshawar tragedy

EVEN for a country where tragedy and savagery are now the norm rather than the exception, Sunday’s attack on Peshawar’s All Saints Church was a new low. For years now, citizens and law enforcement personnel have faced a tidal wave of violence and extremism, with no let-up in sight. Yet the helplessness of the citizenry continues to be matched by that of the state, both at the federal and provincial levels. The state has been unable to work out an adequate response mechanism or crisis mitigation measures that could reduce the extent of the suffering. Pakistan has effectively been in a state of war for years now. Unfortunately, in terms of organisation, the country seems to be taking matters as though it were business as usual — at a tremendous cost to the people. If there is any doubt about this assertion, consider the systemic vulnerabilities exposed by the recent bombings in Peshawar. According to statistics, this year alone Peshawar division has seen more than 230 militant attacks. It would have been reasonable to expect that, through the years, the provincial administration would have evolved a set of workable strategies that included beefing up the capacity of government-run healthcare centres to ensure the timely deployment of ambulances as well as increased staff and emergency equipment. This would have been a most basic mitigation measure in an area beset by high levels of violence. Yet this has not proved to be the case. Sunday’s victims were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital, but there were few doctors and nurses to attend to the crisis, nor was there any level of organisation — even though each time there is an act of terrorism in Peshawar, this is the first hospital to which the victims are rushed. True, this recent atrocity was perpetrated on a weekend when many doctors may have been on leave. But even so, the trajectory of violence demands that the city and its institutions be in a better state of preparedness. It is not just Peshawar, but other cities and towns as well that need to pay more attention to standards of preparedness in case of an emergency situation. Whichever shape a long-term solution to the extremist threat takes, there is little doubt that it will be some time before the present level of violence is brought down. At both the federal and provincial level, the state must improve its response and develop strategies that can save lives, while the citizenry too must be made aware of the dangers.