<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/25/disbelief-and-anger-among-greek-shipwreck-victims-relatives-as-millions-spent-on-titan-rescue-effort>
"Anees Majeed, who lost five relatives in the boat that sank off Greece on 14
June, watched in disbelief and growing anger as a frantic, multimillion-dollar
rescue effort played out for five other men lost at sea last week.
Like thousands of others across Pakistan, Majeed, a law student from
Pakistan-administered Kashmir, grieved at funeral prayers without a body to
bury. At least 350 Pakistani citizens were on the overcrowded craft, the
interior minister, Rana Sanaullah, confirmed on Friday.
There is little hope Majeed’s cousins will ever be found or brought home. The
family are tormented by rising evidence that European authorities knew the boat
was in trouble but did not intervene.
Yet as they began their mourning, a vast operation, involving craft from
several countries, was getting under way. Its target was five men, also lost in
the depths of the ocean, but on a trip they had chosen as an adventure, not one
they were driven to make out of desperation. Two of them were also Pakistani
citizens, but from the opposite end of the social scale to Majeed’s cousins –
businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.
The contrast between two tragedies at sea, the scale of efforts to rescue those
in danger, and the global media response to both stories has stirred debate
inside Pakistan about national and international inequality, and the different
values put on human lives.
“We were shocked to know that millions would be spent on this rescue mission,”
Majeed said. “They used all resources, and so much news came out from this
search. But they did not bother to search for hundreds of Pakistanis and other
people who were on the Greek boat.
“This is a double standard … they could have saved many of the people if they
wanted, or at least they could have recovered the bodies.”
“It’s not the fault of five men that hundreds of people died off Greek shores.
But it is the fault of a system where the class disparities are so huge,” said
one senior journalist at a major Pakistani outlet, who asked not to be named.
“When people point that out, it is misunderstood as hatred.” She said local
media coverage of the migrant deaths may also have been curtailed by fatigue
from reporting years of death and trauma from violence and natural disasters at
home."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
