Gul Plaza Fire: Judicial Commission completes probe

KARACHI: The Judicial Commission inquiring into Gul Plaza shopping mall fire has completed its inquiry and will submit its report to the Sindh government.

Head of the inquiry commission Justice Agha Faisal will submit report of the fire probe to the government today.

The devastating fire that broke out and engulfed Gul Plaza on the night of January 17, claimed dozens of lives, and continued for more than 32 hours before it was brought under control.

In the shopping mall fire over 73 people lost their lives. The relief workers only found six dead bodies complete and charred remains of other victims of the deadly blaze.

The government notified constitution of the judicial commission on February 10 to inquire into the fire incident with Justice Agha Faisal as head of the probe.

The Commission visited the site of the fire on February 14 and started recording statements of the people affected in the incident at the Office of the Deputy Commissioner South on Feb 16.

The probe recorded statements of the medico-legal officer, Pakistan Infrastructure and Development Board official and DC South on Feb 19.

The commission recorded statements of a newsman Babar Saleem and citizen Danish on Feb 20. The SSP City and SSP Traffic recorded their statements on Feb 23 while the K-Electric, Sui Gas officials, municipal commissioner and director civil defence also testified on the same day.

Two survivors of the fire Junaid and Ali Haider recorded their statements on Feb 25, and Civil Defence Technical Instructor testified on Feb 26.

Moreover, drivers of Edhi and Chheepa ambulance services involved in relief operations recorded their statements on March 05.

Renowned architect Arif Hassan also appeared before the commission on March 10 and testified, while the station office Fire and Rescue Muhammad Taufeeq recorded his statement on the same day.

The senior member Board of Revenue appeared before the probe in person on March 25.

The commission also inquired into the status of the Gul Plaza land and other related matters related to the construction of the shopping mall and various regulatory approvals etc.

The fire incident exposed significant shortcomings in Karachi’s emergency response system and raised serious concerns about building safety and regulatory enforcement.