Fifteen newborn martyrs will embrace us on the Day of Judgment

Amir Muhammad Khan

I heard that every newborn born in the world comes with the message that Allah Almighty has not yet given up on His servants. A newborn is actually a symbol of hope, the beginning of a new future. But the fifteen newborns who came to a hospital ward in Islamabad left another message for us while leaving this world. They returned to their Creator after a few hours of life, but as they left, they asked us all one question: **Are we really the protectors of our children? Should only those unfortunate mothers and fathers whose laps were torn apart should cry over this tragedy? Shouldn’t we all tremble? Shouldn’t we look into our own hearts and ask whether Allah Almighty has not become angry with us? When a tragedy happens in our country, the first thing that comes to mind is not a sense of responsibility, but rather a **defensive rhetoric**. The Health Minister was seen telling the grieving parents to come forward, everything was correct, doctors were present, nurses were present, the staff was alert. If everything was really correct, then the question is why couldn’t 15 newborns survive? The Minister, who is a product of the coalition government, also says that he has resigned from the Prime Minister. Through this statement, he blamed the Prime Minister, while the Prime Minister dismissed some people in his very first meeting. He also dismissed those for whom the Minister says that he was instructed not to touch the Executive Director. The Minister should also tell him from which person or which powerful circle this instruction was given to him. Because if a Minister can be told about an officer of his own ministry not to touch him, then this is not just a matter of one officer, it is a matter of the entire government structure. Our misfortune is that after major tragedies in Pakistan, a certain ritual has become established. First the accident, then the bodies, then the visits of ministers, then the meeting, then the inquiry committee, then the press conference, then the statements and finally the file is closed. Meetings are held, but the responsible party is not determined. Why? Perhaps because the people who should be asked the question of responsibility are the ones sitting at the meeting table. What kind of system is this in which no one is responsible before the accident, but after the accident everyone becomes an expert? Before the accident, we are unaware, ignorant and insensitive. As soon as the accident happens, we come up with a whole collection of reasons, arguments and logics. Sometimes there is talk of a compressor exploding, sometimes a short circuit, sometimes the negligence of the staff, sometimes an attempt to hold an officer on leave responsible. But the real question is left behind: Where was the safety system? If a fire breaks out in the neonatal ward of a sensitive hospital, it is not enough to have only doctors and nurses there. There should be complete arrangements for fire safety, alarms, emergency exits, trained staff, safe power systems and quick evacuation. We can arrange central air conditioning, modern security and the best facilities in the offices of our rulers, but we cannot ensure even basic security systems where the future of the country is taking its first breath. We worry about security day and night, but where a mother holds her newborn for the first time, where life is just entering the world, why do our state priorities change? These fifteen children were not the pride and joy of any powerful family. They were the children of ordinary Pakistanis. Children of farmers, laborers, shopkeepers and middle class people who do not have enough money to pay for treatment in a big private hospital. These children were supposed to be part of Pakistan’s dream of 2047. Some were supposed to become doctors, some engineers, some teachers, some soldiers, some businessmen and maybe even ministers or prime ministers of the same country. But we decided their future on their first night. And perhaps what is more sad is that even after this tragedy, our political priorities have not changed. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s statement that “the system is broken” is apparently an admission. But the question is, what is the system after all? The system is not a separate entity. We create the system, appoint officers, run ministers, governments make policies and institutions implement them. If the system is broken, who are the ones keeping it broken? Will people be brought in from outside to run it after the system is fixed? Will the late Moin Qureshi or Shaukat Aziz come and fix the system? Or will the competent people in our own institutions be made responsible, empowered and accountable? The real problem is not the lack of people, **the lack of accountability. The Army Public School tragedy happened in 2014. Innocent children were martyred. The nation was shaken. It was promised that every possible step would be taken to protect children in the future. The PPP is also doing politics on this tragedy, but don’t they remember the bodies of the Baldia Factory, the bodies of the Gulla Plaza? What have we learned from our previous tragedies? We are holding meetings after meetings, to save our skins, it has been told that the original video of the tragedy was hidden and edited and presented in the meeting of the investigation committee. At the time of the tragedy, it was told that some of the responsible people were on leave. This is what happens in government institutions, one day off before the holiday and the day after the holiday. But why don’t people who are fond of holidays know that in important institutions if one person has a holiday, someone else must be more responsible on duty. In our government system, perhaps a holiday means “a holiday of responsibility too.””All these are nonsense to pass the time. In fact, when those responsible are not punished, the next tragedy takes place. Unfortunately, political parties also use such tragedies as a means of political point scoring. One government blames another government, one party demands the resignation of another party and then after a few days everything returns to normal. This behavior is shameful. Accountability is not political affiliation, it should be a principle.
The nation is not interested in meetings. The nation wants results. The parents of these fifteen children should not be told which table the file is on. They should be told why their children could not be saved, whose negligence was there and what practical steps have been taken to prevent such tragedies in the future. The real test of a state is not after the accident, but before the accident. If the government cannot establish a safety system before the accident and can only make statements and meetings after the accident, then admitting the failure of the “system” is not enough, **the system must also be reformed.** Will the field marshal fix this too?