Margalla Tower tragedy
Masses demand inquiry against corrupt CDA officials
By Uzma Zafar

ISLAMABAD—This Saturday our small Capital saw an image of hellish disaster when Earth began to shiver beneath the very feet of the masses, mainly at a time when most were asleep, i.e. around 8:50 a.m. But surprisingly, not much damage occurred at the rest of the spots or at least not much focus went on them for a tall building at a posh sector like F-10, on the verge of collapsing anyway having cracks within, because of built with substandard building material, saw collapse. The damage occurred to the residents within the two damaged blocks mainly because mainly all were asleep.
While relief efforts are underway and in fact 3 men were recovered alive from the debris, here this Sunday and youth in casual jeans and tops with only difference of white coats, were rounding the destruction sight, every now and then, The Daily Mail found it worthwhile to undertake the views of people from various walks and talks of life and check what they found at the disaster sight, what efforts are they putting in for the relief of the victims of the crisis, what more is in the offing, of the disaster and basically, what they all are suffering in their separate ways, through seeing humanity suffer.
Thus, when contacted, the Metrological officials explained that the aftershocks of the main tremor were to be felt for the next 4 days after the experience. However, as the Earth has comparatively cooled down due to the timely rain shower on Saturday night, thus, less impact was felt here Sunday and similar aftershocks though were expected in the next few days but of minimal impact. Residents of F-10, on the other hand, condemned CDA for faulty construction and demanded an action against corrupt CDA officials.
When asked by the masses that a probe into the incident and identification of the individuals involved in the accident as in construction of Margallah Towers would not bring back the dead, masses remained adamant in their response, enraged on the concerned authorities for slow relief efforts as well as lack of concern in building skyscrapers from substandard material, they roared in one voice, “Listen. A man kills another. The court gives the verdict of hanging him. This would not bring back the person he had killed but at least, justice would prevail. We are seeking that justice.”
On the other hand, eyewitnesses including Chairperson Progressive Women Association (PWA); Shehnaz Bukhari, renowed painter and resident of F-10/2; Ghulam Rasul and Mrs. Shami; ex-principal and religious lady, along others, expressed, “It was like Hell. It was the scariest incident of my life. I have never seen experienced a scarier day. I think we have done wrong. We, as a nation, have not been obedient to Allah and are not on the straight path. We should take care of our deeds and pray.”
About the Margallah Tower collapse, they stated, “Well I think that the building material used was not proper. As they’ve been saying and showing on TV that there were cracks already in the building, then why the masses were handed over the keys to various apartments? It’s not a matter of one or two individuals but hundreds of masses who were not killed but murdered.”
“When after 9/11, the entire world was prepared to meet any untoward circumstances, where were we? Our Crisis Intervention Programme was a failed sight. I wonder how we can allow such skyscrapers to be built within the city and yet find no cranes or bulldozers to rescue the masses in case of collapse. If not at that time as havoc had come around, then at least later on, we could’ve brought in cranes”, they further held.
Moreover, “It took 3 hours to formulate a relief strategy. Cops and city Administration kept running after the Ministers which was a killing sight. For me even, who had no relatives at the site, it was a torturous sight”, they said.
“But what’s essential now is not to focus on Islamabad only but to check out Azad Jummu & Kashmir, Northern Areas and other calamity-hit areas along the remote areas of the Capital, other than the Margallah Towers only. Let’s start making relief efforts and let’s perform our responsibilities very sincerely, without minting relief donations. Relief camps should be set up. I wish I could be part of the relief operations.
Progressive Women Association; PWA is settling up it’s first relief camp from Monday, in Satellite Town, Rawalpindi and we urge Neelofer Bakhtiar; Advisor to PM on Women Affairs to guide us in pinpointing a place or establishing such a spot where we can hand relief goods over”, Shehnaz Bukhari said.
“Our main focus nevertheless should be on remote areas as basically these areas are where maximum relief efforts are required. The terror is still there whenever we still look at the fans and just today, Sunday, at 2:30 p.m., a tremor was felt”, she held.
“During the relief operation right after the tragedy, here Saturday, we kept screaming for youth to be utilized. 1000s of millions and billions of youth kept standing on the roads who sincerely wanted to help, but the rescuers did not utilize them. The youth, the nation was not utilized in the relief efforts, rather baton charged by the cops, to stay away. They could at least be told to clear the rubble and push the mess aside. The relief efforts were neither mobilized, nor organized in the proper way. However, in this regard, every small effort is a lot”, she held.