ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s leading opposition parties on Monday demanded the government constitute a judicial commission to investigate the deaths of 22 people, including 10 children, who died at the popular mountain resort town of Murree last weekend after being stuck in their vehicles overnight during a heavy snowstorm amid freezing temperature.
More than 4 feet (1 meter) of snow fell in the area of the Murree Hills resort in the town of Murree near the capital Islamabad on Friday night and early Saturday, trapping the cars of snow-tourists who had thronged to the area in the thousands. The heavy snowfall also caused a massive traffic jam. 
Most of the victims suffered hypothermia as temperatures fell to minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 Fahrenheit). Officials said some died of carbon monoxide poisoning from running their car heaters while their mufflers were choked by snow.
Critics of the government say local authorities were ill-equipped to handle the annual influx of snow-tourists and did not prepare to deal with an emergency situation amid unusually heavy snowfall. They say even though authorities warned last weekend that too many vehicles were trying to enter Murree, they failed to discourage hordes of day trippers from going up the mountain over the weekend.
During a visit to the hill station on Sunday, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar formed a five-member committee to investigate the deaths and announced a financial assistance package of Rs17.6 million for the families of the victims. 
“The entire opposition demands that a judicial commission be constituted to hold all those responsible for the negligence accountable, we won’t settle for less than this,” leader of the opposition Shehbaz Sharif said during Monday’s National Assembly session where lawmakers debated the Murree deaths. “People remained stuck for 20 hours and there was no one to take care of them.” 
“This is a straight case of administrative failure which can’t be pardoned,” he said, holding the government responsible for what he said was “manslaughter.”

Chairperson of the opposition’s Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also demanded a judicial inquiry “to bring out the facts before the nation.
He criticized the government for its “slow response” in rescuing people stranded on the roads just two hours from the capital city and the Prime Minister House. 

Responding to the opposition leader’s speech, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said 64,000 vehicles entered Murree over a span of five days, causing congestion on the roads. 
“Everybody is heartbroken over the Murree incident,” he said, adding that all roads were cleared within 24 hours.