Fire in building at M. A. Jinnah Road
As has been commented elsewhere on KMB, a fire had broken out in a residential cum commercial complex opposite Radio Pakistan on main M.A. Jinnah road late last night, and though no one lost their life, several fire fighters and a few locals suffered minor injuries. It is not clear yet what caused the fire in the first place, but on lookers speculated a short circuit in one of the foam shops or possibly an ignited cigarette -the road there, according to locals, is habitually occupied by “charsis“- may have been the cause. As it is with all things in this country, an inquiry has been ordered, which means that we’re unlikely ever to find out what the real cause was.
And also like with every other emergency situation in this city, this fire too raised some serious questions, this time about the capability of our fire department. Looking at some of the footage of the fire scene on TV late last night, I wondered if our fire department has actually had an upgrade of equipment since the British left, or are we still stuck in the 1940s? Many people on the scene were telling news agencies they couldn’t believe how outdated the fire fighters’ equipment was. Most of the water pipes had holes and the entire city’s fire brigade had not one, let me repeat, not even a single fire extinguisher!
An ARY 1 World reporter said they’d apparently have to ask the Navy for one if the fire didn’t go out in time with water. Thankfully it didn’t come to that, but this is not the first time our fire department has been found wanting. We had that episode of the high rise PNSC building catching fire not that long ago and we all saw what happened then too. Some one up there has been kind enough and we’ve not had any causalities so far, but unless the fire department is updated soon, this could be a disaster waiting to happen.
Whilst on the subject though, we have a tendency to blame the authorities alone for all our trials and tribulations, but the truth is that sometimes, we make matters no less easy for our selves. Scores of people had gathered at the scene of the fire within a short while, many of them arrived well before the police and fire brigade made their way and were instrumental in helping out with the relief effort, in particular in getting the residential flats evacuated quickly, but a few hours into the relief effort, they were so many people at the scene of the event, it actually become a hindrance for the officials rather then helping out.
One overenthusiastic fellow was proudly telling an Aaj News reporter that he had come all the way from North Nazimabad when he heard the news on TV, just to see what happened. Countless others, as you can see from this photo published in today’s Express, are just standing there, doing nothing but gawking blankly at the turn of events. You can’t help but think that if this crowd was less humongous, the fire brigade would have been able to carry out its job more effectively. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate the gesture, and I’m even willing to believe most of these people went there with the intention of trying to help, but will there ever be a time in this country when people will learn to put aside their passions and emotions and think rationally? Just for change, no? We could be surprised to see how the beneficial results can be.
We should have smoke detector on each and every floor of the building, so that when it goes on alarming everybody could know if there is a fire broke out.
Untill and unless we have a proper arrangement of fire fighting the govt. should not allow high rise buildings.
Since this incident has happened it reminds me of the dilpasand mithai again and again, as its right below to that building, I love their mithai :).
Nobody cares about the culprits in our country as nobody get arrested ever, the other thing is in our country these kind of incidents happens so often that ppl also forgets it, and thats what our govt. also need it.
qareeb hay yaron roz-e-mahshar
chupay ga kushton ka khoon kiyon kar
jo chup rahay gi zuban-e-khanjar
lahu phukaray ga aasteen ka
@ M;
SHUT UP NOW, you are one ass h–e.
We have had enough off you.
@M;
Shut up now.
We have had enuff of you.
Talk sense if possible.
do this dajjal business somewhere else.
@Zainub,
Do you know if the building on which the Iqbal centre was constructed use to be a graveyard before ? Or I am not sure if the name of that particular place was something like ghora qabrastan ?
Is this blog accessible from Karachi? Could someone in Karachi please check?
Its perfectly accessible Self. So far at least. At my internet connection at least.
so far KMB is accessible ..
KhiTorPit ghora qabrastan is different..
our stupid public is so much in love with pirs that they can even make a mazar right in the middle of the road.. there is a mazar nearby on M A Jinnah rd..
Thanks to you both.
@Doctor, Ghora qabrastar must be somewhere else too, but I am pretty much sure that, this particular building was build on something like qabrastan, or may be its name was like qabrastan, you can confirm it with someone.
There is one more indication i.e. mostly the shops nearby that building is to make the name tags to put on the grave.
@KhiTorPit it might true about some sort of graveyard as i said there is a Mazar some feets away from this market.. some leaders of sunni therik who died in Nishtar Park tragedy are also buried there..
@Doctor, See I was right that their was a graveyard where this building was constructed, you can see today’s jang to confirm which says that there was a graveyard named EidGah Qabrastan.