Other countries have terrorists in their midst. We have fireworks fanatics.
Suicide bombers tie themselves up with explosives and then detonate the bomb in a public place. Our fanatics store explosives in the middle of our communities and we never know when any of them might blow up.
It seemed that the whole country had been shocked into realising the enormity of the problem after the last Naxxar tragedy, where fireworks were hoarded in two garages in a residential street. The explosion claimed two victims, one an innocent bystander.
The public was so outraged that the authorities finally, and belatedly, decided to take the problem in hand. The police who had obviously turned a blind eye in the past, became suddenly vigilant and more stored fireworks were surfacing all over the place.
However, it seems that was just the tip of the iceberg. It seems incredible that people can be so blinded by their passion for pyrotechnics that despite frequent explosions and fatalities they not only still hoard the highly hazardous stuff, but they also put the general public at risk.
The latest find in a busy junction, metres away from a petrol station and just streets away from the last explosion, at a band club ironically called “Peace” indicates that the people responsible must be either as thick as two planks – Gahans, or completely insensitive to endangering other people’s lives as well as their own.
For those not au fait with Maltese folklore, Gahan was a boy who after his mother had told him “igbed il-bieb warajk” (the literal translation is “pull the door behind you”), did just that and pulled the door off its hinges and dragged it behind him, rather than pulling it to close it.
Imagine the headlines if an explosion had occurred at the Peace Band Club: “Peace shattered by explosion” or “End of Peace at Peace club”, “Peace club blown to smithereens”.
Besides, since a snooker tournament as part of the Mediterranean Friendship Games was taking place at the venue, imagine the damage to Malta’s image if the worst had occurred. Putting people in danger of being blown up is hardly a sign of friendship or peace!
A link has been made with the last Naxxar explosion since one of the fatalities, Paul Camilleri, who had stored the fireworks in his two garages, had been a committee member of the Peace band club.
The root of this madness is competition between band clubs. One commentator said that it would not shock him to discover that the club he frequented was also storing fireworks in its basement, because of the highly charged rivalry, especially in the manufacturing of fireworks.
That is also why they get louder and louder, meaning that they contain higher content of explosives year by year.
It would be interesting to know what steps have been taken over the distribution and monitoring of explosive materials by the army, which had been reported to be in disarray. According to one of the commissioned reports, the army had not been keeping detailed inventories of how the explosive materials have been distributed so far, and there seemed to be no records kept of how much potassium perchlorate and barium chlorate has been released. The report confirmed the lackadaisical way the use and distribution of hazardous chemicals are dealt with here.
The last we had heard was that the Prime minister had taken charge of the AFM portfolio. Any updates on the distribution of hazardous chemicals situation?
It was also concerning to read that the committee of the Peace Band Club allegedly referred to the last police raid as “a storm in a teacup”.
If that comment was really made it gives some indication of the fanaticism, which has enveloped this sector to the point of complete myopia.
I hear that the Cabinet is currently discussing how best to instigate urgent measures to tackle this serious state of affairs, and that the Minister responsible Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici is waiting for his colleague’s agreement to get moving.
Let us hope that the Cabinet moves swiftly and makes up for past mishandling of this extremely sensitive and serious issue.
Although legislation is never enough to change attitudes, at least if the authorities, especially the police and the judiciary demonstrate that they mean business the fanatics will have to drop their blinkers and become responsible citizens.

Friendship
The word friendship keeps popping up in the most awkward places. Last week it appeared in the International Police Association motto, just as the allegations of local police brutality and possible manslaughter, or even attempted murder, hit the headlines.
Most of the controversy to hit the press last week, after the furore of the press conference held by the relatives of the deceased died down, was being created because two inquires have been instigated to delve into what happened at the police depot on April 8.
First the Chamber of Advocates objected. It queried the government decision, saying there was a risk of having two different outcomes from the inquiries. Well, that might indicate that someone might not be telling the truth and two different outcomes is preferable to a whitewash.
However, since the Chamber is a form of lawyers union, one can see why it complained. More than most other professions, lawyers look after their own. If one of them is seen as being less than efficient it reflects badly on the lot of them.
Then Anglu Farrugia, an aspiring Labour Party deputy leader, jumped into the fray. As a lawyer and ex-policeman he probably sees more of a risk of the truth being uncovered with two rather than one inquiry.
He called the decision to appoint an independent inquiry into the death of Nicholas Azzopardi “irresponsible” and that appointing a separate inquiry cast a shadow on the judicial system.
I would have thought that it would have been irresponsible had the government not reacted to worrying questions about the magisterial inquiry.
For example, why considering the seriousness of both Mr Azzopardi’s condition and his allegations, did it take the magistrate four days to get to Mr Azzopardi’s hospital bed?
And when he eventually did get there, why did he fail to record the interview? The excuses given (confusion) for not recording the interview are not justified. That is probably why the authorities felt that a further investigation was necessary.
This is not about lawyers and the police saving face but getting to the truth.
On the other hand criminal lawyers are rightly questioning why unlike other democratic countries defence lawyers are not present during interrogations.

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