With suspension of trains on Karachi-Quetta-Peshawar Section, there are no trains for the people of several districts on Right Bank of Indus to travel
Pakistan Railways, one of the few remnants of our colonial legacy, today is a symbol of despair, incompetence, nepotism and bias. Nations invest billions to develop an infrastructure, while we allowed a fully developed one, with solid foundations, to be destroyed because of the greed and benefit of the few and also because of bias.
It is biased in the way that Pakistan Railways authorities under a well-hatched plan have focused developing or maintaining the system in Punjab and destroying the railways network in Sindh.
The process of destroying railways network in Sindh started soon after creation of Pakistan and train service was gradually suspended in southeastern parts of province, with the result that the railways tracks in Mirpur Khas, Umerkot and Tharparkar districts started decaying.
In second phase of well-hatched plan, the train service on loop lines connecting several towns of Sindh with the main line at Tando Adam, Padidan and Mahrabpur, was closed. This process started during the Zia regime and ended during PML-N regime in early 1990s. Now there is no sign of railways tracks and even the historic buildings of railway stations at loop lines have collapsed.
The third phase of depriving people of Sindh of the safe and cheapest mode of travelling started last year – March 2020 when the Pakistan Railways authorities closed train service from Karachi to Quetta and Peshawar via Jamshoro, Dadu, Larkana, Shikarpur and Jacobabad. Pakistan Railways operated only a few trains on this section from very beginning and their number was curtailed gradually. Till last year, only two trains namely Bolan Mail (Karachi-Quetta) and Khushhal Khan Khattak (Karachi-Peshawar) used to operate on this section but since March 2020, these two trains also remain suspended on the pretext of outsourcing the railway facilities. About 15 months have passed but there is no sign of resuming train service on this section.
The people of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhaw might have no problem in travelling as they use to avail the train service between Karachi and Punjab, but the people of Sindh are greatly affected by suspended services. It seems that the Pakistan Railways focuses only on Karachi-Lahore-Pindi line which connects Punjab to port city Karachi.
I had lodged a written complaint with the federal Ombudsman against suspending above mentioned two trains on Karachi-Quetta-Peshawar section and several notices were issued to the Pakistan Railways authorities but they neglected all the notices. At last, the Ombudsman office in Karachi received a very brief letter from Nasir Nazeer, Divisional Commercial Officer Pakistan Railways Karachi Division dated March 20, 2021 stating that they have invited bids for outsourcing the passenger facilities and the process will be finalized by March 31. However, no progress has yet been noticed in this regard till yet and the train service on this section continues suspended.
In case, the train service on Karachi-Quetta-Peshawar Section is not restored, it will cause heavy losses amounting to billions of rupees, as the railways tracks and buildings of railway stations will be destroyed like those in other parts of Sindh.
The history shows that Pakistan Railways was a profit-earning organization during the government of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto but the later governments destroyed it for their political and other motives. Its revenue comprised mainly of the vast cargo goods train movement, which had been diluted when the National Logistics Cell was set up and also because of serving the private transporters’ interests. Today they are wasting billions of dollars on importing fuel to run these fuel-guzzling trucks, while the cost-effective railways has been eroded of its revenues.
Had the Pakistan Railways invested in buying new technology trains and laying new rail tracks, it would have become the best public transport organization but instead of keeping pace with technology, they are adamant on destroying the organization.
The vast majority of people of the subcontinent relied on rail transport as a safe and affordable mode of transportation. It was the mainstay for primary logistics support in times of war and peace. In India, railways continue to be the biggest state-owned organization in terms of employees, services, network and area of jurisdiction. But in Pakistan, the Railways has suffered at the hands of incompetent and corrupt political appointees, which were forced on it by various regimes led by men like Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf. This plunder of the railways has continued till date. Such callous and irresponsible attitude by the various regimes, as well as their turning a blind eye to ignore the persistent rampant corruption, has destroyed Pakistan Railways.
Abdul Fattah Odhano
Karachi Sindh
