ISLAMABAD: Shameem Akhtar is a 60-year-old who owned stall number C-44 in the H-9 weekly bazaar. At 2pm on Wednesday she learnt that a fire had started in the bazaar. She decided to go and see if goods had been stolen from her stall during the mayhem.

When she got to the bazaar, she could not identify her stall as all the stalls had been burnt and could not be differentiated.

“I owned a stall selling clothes and plastic items. I had goods worth Rs250,000 in the stall. I live in a rented house in Dhoke Kashmirian and have been running the shop for 18 years,” she told Dawn.

She said her husband was a conductor on a public transport bus and had died in an accident almost 22 years ago. She started a stall in the weekly bazaar in G-9 four years after her husband’s death, when she could no longer manage her expenses.

“Eight years ago, the bazaar was moved to H-9 and I was allotted a stall here. There are some 90 other widows who earn a living from stalls in the bazaar. It seems I am now back to where I was when I started 18 years ago,” she said.

The mother of three appealed to the prime minister to take notice of all those affected by the fire and ensure they are given compensation as they have lost a life time’s worth of savings.

“We do not know who started the fire or the reason for it. We used to pay the watchman but no one bothered to save our goods. I don’t know if our goods were stolen before the stalls were burned. I am helpless and cannot get justice,” Ms Akhtar said.

Owner of stall C-24, Khalida Sadiq said she had a crockery stall and could not find a single piece of crockery from where her stall was.

“I live in a rented house in Pirwadhai. I don’t know yet how much loss I have suffered as my son takes care of money-related issues. I think someone stole our goods and then set the bazaar on fire,” she claimed.

Masood Khan, who owned a shoe stall, said he lost goods worth Rs1.2 million.

“I demand that we are paid compensation as we will otherwise not be able to run our businesses again,” he said.

Owner of stall C-188, Najeeb Ullah said he had carpets worth Rs800,000 in his stall which he lost along with the Rs250,000 in cash he had hid in the carpets which he had to pay to his supplier from Quetta.

“I had never thought that this would happen. I have to flee now, I have no other option because most of my stock was on credit and people will demand money from me,” he said.

Azhar Ali had better luck as his stall was not damaged in the fire. According to his estimate, some 700 stalls were burnt in the fire on Wednesday.

“All us stallholders pay the watchman Rs20 for every bazaar per day and expect that our goods will be safe. I do not understand how the fire started,” he said.

Various stall owners told Dawn they had bought extra stock, especially clothes and shoes, for the upcoming Eid.

“We earn more profit during Eid, but now it is all destroyed,” a stall owner said.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MNA Asad Umar visited the bazaar and said the fire could not be extinguished due to the incompetence of the administration.

“We will play our role in getting compensation for those affected by the fire,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2017