There comes a point after tragedy when one feels stumped: exasperated, angry, inadequate. Fourteen newborn babies died in the fire at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, and there was an outpouring of grief and outrage.

And then comes the danger.

The anger settles. The headlines move on. Everyday life rolls forward like a boulder. What should have been intolerable becomes another terrible thing Pakistan somehow absorbs.

This time, we must not let it.

These were babies who had barely arrived in this callous world. They had been placed in a newborns’ nursery precisely because they were at their most vulnerable and needed the most secure care the state could provide. Instead, the place designed to protect them became the place 14 of them never left.

The paradox extends far beyond PIMS. The poor, the voiceless and the excluded enter public institutions seeking protection, only to find that the protective space is itself unsafe.

The interim inquiry into the August 26 fire makes devastating reading.

The precise origin has not been established. Investigators are examining whether an air conditioner, an incubator or warmer, or wiring, plugs and sockets were involved. That distinction matters, and speculation should not replace evidence.

But something bigger than the first spark is........

© Arab News Pakistan