Pakistan Senate committee orders FIR registration over PIMS fire
The Senate Committee on Human Rights in Islamabad, Pakistan, instructed the authorities to register an FIR — a First Information Report — over a fire in the neonatal ward of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). Fourteen newborns died as a result of the fire.
As Dawn reports, the committee, chaired by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, also demanded that criminal proceedings be initiated against those allegedly responsible for the tragedy. Committee members expressed concern that the case has still not been registered, despite the prime minister’s instructions to take action against officials.
Registration of a criminal case
At a meeting at the Parliamentary Lodges, PIMS representatives said that an FIR in the case had still not been registered. This was confirmed by Dr. Iqbal Durrani in response to a question from the committee chair.
Senator Syed Masroor Ahsan noted that the prime minister had ordered the dismissal of eight employees and the registration of criminal cases against those responsible. Zehri instructed that an FIR be registered immediately over negligence and loss of life, and that criminal proceedings be initiated against the officials involved.
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The committee chair also called for the assets of those responsible to be frozen and for the names of suspended officials to be added to the list of people barred from leaving the country.
Cases concerning the events in Jaranwala
The committee also reviewed the events in Jaranwala on August 16, 2023. It was informed that 389 people had been detained; some cases are still before the courts, while proceedings in others have already concluded.
Zehri stressed that the case concerns a minority and requires an urgent resolution. She instructed that the losses of affected families, including damage to their homes, be assessed and that compensation be determined on the basis of verified losses.
A representative of the chief secretary said that a special commission would assess the damage with the participation of community representatives. According to him, the government plans to pay 2 million Pakistani rupees to each affected family, but the families said this amount does not correspond to their actual losses.
