A heart-wrenching tragedy in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal area has sparked outrage and sorrow across the city after civic negligence claimed the life of a three-year-old boy named Ibrahim. On Sunday night, outside a departmental store near Nipa Chowrangi, the innocent child fell into an open manhole while with his parents. Shockingly, the deadly opening was not covered with a proper lid but was hidden under a piece of cardboard, which instantly collapsed under the child’s weight.
For 15 agonizing hours, rescue teams and the family searched desperately, only to find Ibrahim’s lifeless body in a drain one kilometer away from where he fell. The incident highlights the severe administrative failures in the city. Reacting to the tragedy, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed deep grief and ordered immediate action, stating that the “blame game” between departments is regrettable and negligence will not be tolerated.
Following the Chief Minister’s directives, the Sindh Local Government Department has issued a notification suspending several high-ranking officials. Those suspended include KMC Senior Director Municipal Services Imran Rajput, Town Assistant Engineer Rashid Fayyaz, Water Corporation Executive Engineer Waqar Ahmed, Assistant Commissioner Gulshan Iqbal Amir Ali Shah, and Mukhtiarkar Salman Farsi. While these suspensions signal a crackdown on negligence, the incident serves as a grim reminder of the dangers lurking in the city’s infrastructure due to lack of maintenance.
