A tale of two disasters

First, I have to make this confession that I am unable to bring together my thoughts on the two marine tragedies that relate to Pakistan in a strangely ominous linkage, even though they have happened in distant locations and have made headlines in the global media.

I feel overwhelmed by the rush of feelings and opinions about these incidents and it is not possible to deal with them in the space of a column. The sinking of the migrant ship off the Greek coast last week has brought to the surface an entire range of issues, ranging from the desperation of our young men to find refuge in another country to the monstrosity of illegal human trafficking.

The entire episode of how that overcrowded fishing boat capsized in the Mediterranean, on its way to Italy, became a uniquely Pakistani tragedy because so many of those 700 wretched passengers were Pakistanis. Exact numbers are still not available but more than 200 Pakistanis may have perished in those turbulent waters.

We did have a national day of mourning and a large number of the victims were identified, with an account of how their families were trying to cope with the loss. These were stories with faces and names and a visual representation of the lives they are living. An operation was readily launched against the vile agents who had extorted huge amounts – around Rs30,00,000 and more – to smuggle one young man to Europe.

These are stories we are familiar with, except that the magnitude of the tragedy this time was horrendous. Our media experts have an opportunity to judge the quality of the reporting of this tragedy by our news channels and the newspapers. That it was also covered by the international media may provide some excuse for our top reporters not being there on the scene. But it was our story and we partly missed it, giving more attention to grieving family members.

Anyhow, there was another marine accident of an entirely different kind in another part of the world that had a larger potential of raising high waves in the global media. A submarine-like craft on an undersea expedition to explore the wreckage of that fabled ship Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean near south eastern Canada went missing. It had five passengers and, by a providential coincidence, two of them belonged to a distinguished Pakistani family.

The juxtaposition of these two marine disasters and the dramatic contrast they provided in the status of those involved and also in the nature of the circumstances in which they happened was bound to attract attention and comment. The two Pakistanis trapped in that ‘submersible’ named Titan were Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.

I wish I could make a diversion here to delve into the lure and the curse of Titanic and the details of how director James Cameron had made that blockbuster 25 years ago. The Titanic wreckage had figured in the movie and it seems mind-boggling that James Cameron has visited the wreckage of the Titanic 33 times.

I also have a poem, ‘Titanic’, by David Slavitt, written in 1963 well before the Cameron movie, that begins: “Who does not love the Titanic? / If they sold passage tomorrow for the same crossing / who would not buy?” And the last line: “We all go: only a few first class”.

Sadly, there is so much else to focus on. Here, I need to underline the fact that the story of the hundreds who were drowned in the Mediterranean did not get the coverage of the Titan. There were some comments on this disparity on social media in Pakistan. This was to be expected. However, there is this piece by Arwa Mahdawi in The Guardian with this headline: “The Greek shipwreck was a horrific tragedy. Yet it didn’t get the attention of the Titanic.”

I am tempted to quote its rather longish intro: “Have you heard about the billionaires and multimillionaires trapped on a submersible after spending up to $250,000 each to view the wreckage of the Titanic? Of course you have. The story has been headline news in the Anglophone countries ever since the vessel, named the Titan, went missing. Enormous resources have been deployed to try to recover the passengers. Every tiny development has been exhaustively covered. Millions of people, myself included, have been glued to the live blogs and the rolling coverage. And millions of people, myself included, are now newly minted experts on the difference between a submersible and a submarine”.

Then, there is this reference to “one of the worst tragedies that has ever occurred on the Mediterranean”. A fishing boat carrying about 750 people capsized. “There were 100 children below deck in that ship. One hundred children”. The report noted that this coverage “pales in comparison to the attention that’s been given to the Titan’s disappearance”.

More significant was a comment made by former US president Barack Obama in a conference this week. He mentioned the tragedy that was unfolding in the search for the Titan and its minute to minute coverage. He said it was understandable but he noted the fact that it had more attention than 700 people who sank… and his words were drowned in the ovation. I saw the clip on Twitter.

Does this mean that the international media may now provide better coverage to mass tragedies that involve poor and disadvantaged people? Incidentally, citizens of a number of European countries have protested against the treatment of their governments towards illegal migrants and asylum seekers. One such demonstration was held in Greece last week.

As for Pakistan, our media may at least begin to explore why this is not a country for the young. Unemployment and lack of opportunities are valid reasons. But there is no understanding of the kind of freedom that the young, including young women, rightly deserve. You see, there is so much that I have to leave unsaid.

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com