KASUR: Questions have been raised over the mysterious fire that engulfed over two dozen shops at the Sahulat Bazaar near the Old Lorry Adda in the early hours of Saturday.

Rescue 1122 said that a massive fire broke out in the wee hours that soon engulfed the entire market. The fire created panic in the area as the market is surrounded by houses, auto workshops and a petrol pump.

According to Rescue 1122, a brigade of six firefighting vehicles rushed to the spot responding to a call at about 4:50am. They said that the fire was put out after a struggle of three hours. There was no loss of life reported in the incident but property losses were estimated to be in the millions.

The Sahulat Bazaar is a government back initiative and was inaugurated here in 2014 in the heart of the city to provide subsidised essentials, vegetables, fruit and groceries to the masses. There were also shoes, garments, artificial jewellery and plastic utensil shops and stalls. The facility comprised over 100 shops, secured by CCTV cameras and security guards.

It is learnt that two out of the 25 CCTV cameras were off at the time of the incident. Interestingly, these two cameras were at the spot where the fire started.

Punjab Sahulat Bazaar Director Saddam Hussain visited the site, met the affected traders and assured them of justice and a probe into the incident. However, no official from the district administration visited the spot.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2026