THE Gul Plaza tragedy in Karachi last weekend provided the perfect metaphor and visual example of a lot of what weighs down Pakistan’s economy. This was not the first such fire. Journalist Mahim Maher compiled a list of 60 mall fires in Karachi between 2016 and 2022. “Gul Plaza was a disaster waiting to happen,” she said while re-sharing her interactive map of all these fires on her social media feed.

The massive flames engulfing the building were reminiscent of the inflationary fire that engulfed Pakistan between March 2021 and May 2023. The repeated nature of these fires was a parallel to how the economy of Pakistan burns in the fires of a balance-of-payments crisis every few years.

New reports talked about how the firefighters were late to the scene. Firefighters attributed this to the traffic mess through which their tenders had to travel to reach the scene. This reminded me of the intense power struggle that has been a constant feature of our politics for decades now, and how the political logjam serves as an obstruction in the path of decision-makers reaching the conclusion they need to reach: the country needs to go to the IMF and swallow the bitter medicine of austerity one more time to douse the economic flames engulfing the country.

The firefighters fought heroically. They fought all night. The smouldering remains of the building over the next few days bore testament to the strength they had to muster, the dangers........

© Dawn