KARACHI: Police authorities on Monday formed a body to look into the possibility of sabotage behind the Timber Market blaze that destroyed hundreds of shops and residential flats on Sunday, officials said.

“The committee has been formed to ascertain whether it was an accidental fire or an arson attack,” said DIG-South Barrister Abdul Khalique Shaikh.

The team led by City SSP Sheeraz Nazeer and comprising City SP Aftab Nizamani and Eidgah DSP Mushtaq Tanoli as its members would look into probable causes of the incident and would recommend a further course of action in its light. The body has been tasked to furnish its report within seven days.

“So far, no direct evidence has emerged that could suggest the possibility of sabotage behind the blaze,” said DIG Shaikh.

‘Two fire tenders arrived at the scene at around 1.30am; one was without water and the other without a hose’

Meanwhile, lives of the shop owners and residents were devastated by the huge fire that destroyed the Timber Market, the source of their livelihood, and rendered them homeless, affected people said on Monday.

The residents were critical of the government’s ‘poor response’, especially the role of the fire brigade, and contended that if help had arrived on time, much destruction could have been prevented.

“We have come on roads now,” said Ghulam Shabbir Soomro, a shop owner.

Sitting in a chair amid the debris of the godown spread over around 4,000 square feet having 70 shops, he said the shops of his and his three brothers — Ghulam Ali, Sajid and Asad — were destroyed in the fire with an accumulated financial loss of over Rs5 million. He said 150 other shops were destroyed in the nearby market.

“My labour and saving of 12 years has vanished,” said Mr Soomro. The affected shopkeeper said the blaze first erupted in a shop in the market situated around 200 feet from the godown at around 12.30am on Sunday.

“Two fire tenders arrived at around 1.30am, one was without water and the other without a hose,” said the shopkeeper.

The firemen demanded diesel, which was arranged by the affected people. When the firemen went to fetch water from the water pumping station at Garden, they were initially refused but they got water on the intervention of Rangers and police personnel.

“Fire tenders came at 5am when everything had turned into ashes,” said the shop owner.

Another shopkeeper sitting nearby said it was the Pakistan Navy’s fire tenders with heavy pipes with heavy water pressure that helped put out the blaze in the morning.

Another shopkeeper, Shoaib Soomro, said his seven shops were destroyed in the fire, adding that he had bought timber worth Rs1.6 million just four days before.

Noor Mohammed said this was their third generation involved in the timber business since the creation of Pakistan. He said his two shops were destroyed in the blaze.

Haji Abdul Karim said his five shops were gutted, but he could not estimate the exact loss. “What else can we do but pray?” said the Haji. “No one is satisfied with the government response to the incident.”

Haji Siddiqi said his and his four brothers’ six shops were ruined, causing losses of ‘millions of rupees’. He said they were dealing in Burma teak, which was very expensive.

Not only shops but the adjacent flats were also badly damaged.

Ibrahim Soomro said the first floor of his three-storey building, Haji Ahmed Manzil, was damaged. “When the fire broke out in the shops, we were present there but we had not realised that it would spread so rapidly,” said Farooq Soomro, another resident of the same building. He said they left their flats at around 2am and shifted to their relatives’. He recalled that when he returned to the spot at 9pm on Sunday, the debris adjacent to his building was still smouldering, forcing him to demolish a portion of the staircase.

Smoke was still rising from the debris when this reporter visited the site on Monday evening. The nearby six-storey Tasmia Arcade’s flats were affected by the fire up to the third floor. Smoke was also emanating from the destroyed wooden material where workers were seen busy collecting the debris while officials were conducting a survey.

One member of the survey team told Dawn that the government had decided to provide Rs100,000 each to the affected persons on Tuesday (today).

Ali Soomro, son of president of the Timber Market Association Suleman Soomrom, said at his damaged six-storey building that 400 to 500 shops and 15 to 20 buildings having 200 flats were either destroyed or damaged in the blaze. He said the financial loss might be in billions of rupees.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2014