Pakistanis Are Furious After Sheikh Rasheed Blames Passengers For Tezgam Train Accident

Pakistan woke up to the tragic news of a major train accident near Rahim Yar Khan owing to the explosion of a gas cylinder inside the Tezgam Express. While a rescue operation is currently underway, 73 passengers have been reported to have lost their lives so far.

This is the seventh major train accident since PTI took over the government in September last year.

The Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed was already under fire for the increasing frequency of railroad accidents since he took over the ministry. However, he attracted outrage on Thursday morning for blaming the passengers for the Tezgam train accident.

While speaking to the press following the accident, the Railways Minister said that passengers were responsible for the deaths, not Railways, for bringing cylinders to the train.

This statement did not go down well with Pakistani netizens who took to Twitter to condemn Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.

Ali Gul Pir, for instance pointed out that just as an airline is held responsible for a lapse of security if a firearm is smuggled into a plane, the railway must acknowledge its own incompetence for allowing gas cylinders into trains.

Many other Twitterati echoed Pir as they accused the Minister of grave incompetence.

The minister’s claim that the accident happened because of passengers belonging to a tableeghi jamat was also refuted by one eyewitness.

According to the man’s account the cause of fire was short circuiting and not a passenger’s gas cylinder as stated by the minister.

Given that tragedy on-board Pakistani trains has become somewhat of a norm under Rasheed, Pakistanis are finally demanding retribution.

As pointed out by a number of netizens, had Rasheed paid greater attention to the ministry under him rather than politicking, the Tezgam train accident could have been averted and many innocent lives could have been saved.

Have anything to add? Share your views in the comments below.