Islamabad Shuts H-9 Weekly Bazaar Over Glaring Fire Safety Lapses

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad district administration and civic authorities have ordered the temporary closure of the capital’s largest weekly flea market, the H-9 Itwar Bazaar, citing a severe absence of basic fire safety measures and operational risk protocols. The unexpected shutdown followed a joint inspection conducted by emergency response officials, who identified critical vulnerabilities capable of triggering catastrophic blazes during peak operational hours.

According to municipal officials, the inspection revealed non-functional fire hydrants, an acute deficit of operational fire extinguishers, and severe encroachments along primary emergency exit routes within the sprawling open-air complex. Given the heavy concentration of synthetic fabrics, garment stalls, second-hand winter goods, and makeshift electrical connections, inspectors concluded that the venue posed an imminent danger to tens of thousands of visitors and hundreds of stallholders.

The H-9 Itwar Bazaar has historically been vulnerable to devastating blazes, having suffered repeated multi-million-rupee infernos over the past decade that destroyed hundreds of stalls and wiped out the livelihoods of daily-wage vendors. Civil society groups and urban planning experts have routinely criticized the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for neglecting comprehensive fire audits and failing to install permanent, industrial-grade firefighting infrastructure across the city’s subsidized market facilities.

Authorities have directed market management and vendor associations to rectify all highlighted safety violations before operations can be permitted to resume. CDA technical teams, alongside emergency response specialists, are slated to conduct a comprehensive structural review early next week to determine whether mandatory fire suppression systems and clear corridor demarcations meet regulatory safety benchmarks.