KARACHI, Feb 1: A police team investigating the North Karachi fire that claimed the lives of 40 people did not conduct a forensic probe into the incident because the police lack the facility to carry out the investigation of a fire case on modern scientific lines, it has emerged.

Forty people — 22 of them children – died when a fire engulfed about two dozen huts in the North Karachi area last month. Later, the government formed a police investigation team comprising DIG (West) Abdul Majeed Dasti and SPs Dr Mohammad Farooq and Khurram Waris to ascertain whether it was an act of arson or the fire was caused by an accident.

However, in the absence of a forensic investigation, the team, in its preliminary investigation report, declared that the fire was caused ‘incidentally’.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that the Sindh Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL), which was supposed to assist the investigations into any fire probe, was not capable enough to differentiate between an incidental fire and an act of arson.

“During the past three years or so the laboratory did not receive a single fire related sample with the task to determine the reasons behind the fire because the investigators are aware that such a facility is not available [in the lab]” said a source.

A senior police official said that in the absence of a forensic probe, the police conduct the investigations into fire incidents by interviewing the victims, gathering the witnesses’ accounts and take all measures to draw a conclusion.

Similarly, on the basis of interviews with the survivors and witnesses, the team investigating the North Karachi fire also concluded that it was an incidental case.

He said the SFSL was not involved in the investigations into fire incidents because it could perform limited jobs and to ascertain the causes of fires was never on its priority list.

He admitted that there was no alternative to forensic investigation into any crime but unfortunately, the local police depended heavily on the conventional way of tracing the culprits on the basis of suspicions.

Established in 1983 in Garden, the SFSL is primarily meant to conduct ballistics tests, collect fingerprints, conduct the authentication of vehicles and issue opinions on handwriting samples where legal implications are involved. Its latest acquisition is the installation of a computerised automated fingerprints’ identification system, a project of the National Police Bureau.

However, the lab’s inability to help the investigations into any fire incident leaves a question mark on the credibility of an inquiry committee formed by the Sindh governor to ascertain the causes of some suspect fire incidents, including the one that engulfed the offices of the Sindh Board of Revenue, by recommending forensic investigations.

“Fire investigation is (based on) process and expertise,” said Tariq Moen, secretary of the Fire Protection Association of Pakistan. “In the first phase, it would definitely include interviews of the people affected, witnesses and pictures of the affected parts and most importantly a forensic examination of the articles burnt during the fire. But one doesn’t know how much these formalities are met before initiating the process.”

He said following modern lines, one could reach a conclusion about whether a fire was an act of arson or incidental. But here, the fire investigations are largely based on speculation and estimates, making it difficult to unearth the actual reasons behind the fire, he added.