ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday sought the report submitted to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the fire incident at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
A single bench of the IHC, Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, heard two separate petitions related to the PIMS tragedy.
During the hearing, Justice Dogar termed the PIMS fire a “terrible incident” and observed that the loss of 14 children was extremely serious.
The petitioner’s counsel contended that the government had constituted committees comprising bureaucrats, questioning how the officials of one department could conduct an inquiry against their own colleagues. He asked the Court to constitute a Judicial Commission to probe the matter.
Justice Dogar questioned the legal basis of the request, asking the lawyer under which law the court could order such an inquiry and where the Inquiry Act empowered the IHC to issue such directives.
The counsel referred to the commission constituted after the Punjab Institute of Cardiology incident. The IHC CJ remarked that the said commission had not been constituted by the court, adding that such matters fell within the government’s domain.
He also remarked, “If there is any matter with us, I will ask one of my judges to look into it.” The counsel maintained that “no one can be the judge of his own actions” and argued that responsibility had not been fixed in the inquiry report submitted so far.
Additional Attorney General (AAG) Rashid Hafeez informed the court that the health secretary had been suspended on the day of the incident, while hospital officials had subsequently been suspended based on an interim inquiry report.
The court sought the report submitted to the prime minister, along with details of the action taken so far, and directed the federation to submit a detailed response.
A separate petition also sought removal of the PIMS ED from office — who has already been suspended — and action over the tragedy. The petitioner’s counsel highlighted the conditions at the hospital and questioned the utilisation of its massive budget.
The counsel told the court that the deaths of the children were horrific and requested that the PIMS ED be removed from his post.
The IHC CJ asked how the court can give a direction to remove him from the post. The counsel contended that the PIMS has an annual budget of around Rs20 to Rs22 billion, yet several children were being accommodated on a single bed. He questioned where the budget was being spent and urged the court to order the executive director’s removal and return his services to his parent department.
Justice Dogar observed that he believed the PIMS ED had already been removed from the post, referring to the prime minister’s orders to suspend Prof Dr Imran Sikandar and seven others. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chief Executive Officer Dr Mohammad Salman has taken charge of the post after being appointed as the acting PIMS ED.
The counsel replied that although the ED had been removed, no responsibility had been fixed against him and he had not been held responsible in the inquiry report either.
AAG Hafeez told the court that the report currently available was only an interim report and that the complete inquiry report would be submitted within five days.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
Comments