Investigating Gadani

More than one week after the November 1 explosion at an oil tanker in the Gadani ship-breaking yard, the death toll has risen to 26 and there is a chance of even more casualties as an unknown number of workers are still missing. The inquiry committee constituted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met for the first time yesterday and promised to report back within 15 days. But such committees are either ignored or their findings whitewashed and there is no reason to believe this time will be any different. Trade unions took out rallies in Karachi and demanded that the matter be handed over to a judicial commission rather than be handled by the government. At least the work of the judicial commission would be open to public scrutiny and not just be presented to us a fait accompli. Any commission, be it judicial or governmental, will have a lot to investigate. The probe must start with the safety procedures – or lack thereof – in place at Gadani. The explosion was apparently caused by oil that had not been fully drained from the ship. The probe will have to find out why shortcuts were taken with such basic safety measures. The answer, though, can be given by anyone who works in Gadani.

As the ship-breaking industry has declined, it is workers who have had to pay the brunt of the price. Most of those who worked in ship-breaking have long been laid off and those few who remain face hazardous working conditions so that owners can save money. It is only appropriate then that the police have already arrested the contractor and manager of the shop and have only spared the owner prison so far because he is in hospital. The only way to get owners to take seriously the safety of their workers is by holding them criminally liable should they fail to do so. But such action should be taken regularly and not just after fatal accidents. Additionally, owners must be forced to treat their workers better. Most of the employees at Gadani are on contract rather than full time, receive less than the minimum wage and no benefits such as healthcare or pensions. Occupations as hazardous as ship-breaking need to offer better remuneration and a probe should explore conditions in the industry as a whole. Finally, the government will have to account for its own role in the tragedy. How many deaths could have been prevented had more than one fire truck been available at the time? It took four days for the fire at the ship to be extinguished, so clearly a better initial response was needed. Ultimately, there are many malignant actors who are responsible for what happened at Gadani and all need to be held accountable.