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Three-year-old Ibrahim was out shopping with his parents on Sunday night near NIPA in Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal when he fell into an open manhole and was swept away by a torrent of toxic sewage. Delayed rescue efforts and a lack of coordination between civic agencies led to residents joining the boy’s parents in a protest until work finally began to locate the child.

Ibrahim’s body was found around 15 hours later on Monday almost two kilometres from the manhole he fell into. His tragic death has sparked outrage, with everyone from the public to celebrities asking one very important question: “Who is responsible for this?”

Mahira Khan called out “unimaginable apathy” after seeing a “video of a mother helplessly screaming, crying for her baby”. All she could ask was, “Who the hell is responsible for Karachi?”

Sajal Ali decried the city’s crumbling infrastructure and its “collapsing, failed system”. She said she couldn’t imagine what the child’s parents must be going through in “waiting for a miracle” that couldn’t materialise because “there was no one to save him”. Karachi, she said, was “a city that carries the weight of millions, yet receives no care in return”.

Adnan Siddiqui blamed the authorities who “couldn’t be bothered to cover a manhole”. Calling the incident a “simple, preventable act of responsibility”, he said indifference shown by those in charge was “as if human life means nothing here”.

Ahsan Khan also placed the blame squarely on municipal authorities and asked for the child to forgive those who failed him.

The actor said it was a shame that the theft of manhole covers, absence of monitoring and lack of nighttime emergency response facilities led to the death of Ibrahim and so many others.

Ahsan Mohsin Ikram said he was “completely heartbroken” and called the incident “criminal negligence”.

He said the people responsible “should be held accountable and put behind bars immediately”.

Zhalay Sarhadi just wanted to know how many more tragic losses we had to face “before basic amenities will be provided and taken care of”.

She called the incident “avoidable” and asked why we even had manholes anymore — much less uncovered ones — when they had become “obsolete” around the world. She sent her prayers to the bereaved family.

Rapper Talha Yunus said, “My heart weeps and my blood is boiling, this is all the result of our government’s incompetence.”

“2026 is almost here and this is the state of our city. Curse you,” he said, sending his condolences to the child’s family.

Actor Fatima Effendi asked why the many millions of rupees collected from automated traffic fines in Karachi couldn’t have been used to replace a few manhole covers and save a child’s life.

Naumaan Ijaz also questioned the government’s priorities, saying, “Cameras worth millions have been installed [to give out] e-challans, but manhole covers were not installed to save someone’s life.”

As people’s anger over the completely preventable death of such a young child simmers, condemnations continue to pour in and people continue to wonder how long we can continue like this.