It took nearly three months for a health department to conclude how on God’s green earth, not one, not two, not three but an overwhelming 18 people mysteriously lost their lives in an unfortunate neighbourhood in Pakistan’s biggest metropolis. The drawn conclusion is exactly what the local community had suspected from the very beginning even though highly-qualified doctors sitting in Islamabad saw it fit to point fingers at everything in the mix. From measles to dengue, all were said to be responsible for the exception of the actual culprit: the release of toxic gases by a nearby “plastic burning factory.” However, now that the cat is finally (and officially) out of the bag, the civic authorities have no other option but to step out of the side-curtains and confront the grave health hazards dancing on their doorstep. There is little to no progress on Supreme Court’s directive to register cases about all such deaths in the locality in the last three years. Following the pattern to the dot, a few low-level arrests were celebrated on television screens as people from influential backgrounds criticised the victims for enduring their excruciating living conditions and “lack of awareness.” Maybe, their lack of proverbial success in making it to the posh areas can justify the deadly target on their backs! Sadly, no one in the machinery could be bothered to investigate why such illegal establishments were thriving in the first place. Has the provincial administration ordered a crackdown against those who dole out government plots to these skimpy factories like candy? Shouldn’t a sense of urgency govern the examination of these units and their convenience in violating ordinances against the release of poisonous emissions? A spree of deaths; the resulting ruckus for one news cycle or the next; a few knee-jerk statements from the state and business slowly going back to routine have become a trademark in industrial cities like Karachi and Lahore where earning a few extra bucks basks in the limelight at the expense of highly-dispensable health and humanity. *