By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: A deadly fire that tore through a bustling shopping plaza in Karachi last week, killing at least 71 people and reducing much of the building to rubble, has prompted a police investigation into negligence and ignited a bitter political feud over accountability and relief for the victims’ shattered families.
The blaze erupted on the evening of Jan. 17 in Gul Plaza, a ground-plus-three-story mall in the heart of the city’s Saddar area, and raged for nearly two days before firefighters could bring it under control. Rescue operations continued amid fears of a rising death toll, with sections of the structure collapsing and reports of scattered human remains complicating efforts to identify the dead.
On Saturday, police filed a formal complaint, a first information report, blaming the disaster on “negligence and carelessness.” “The FIR of the Gul Plaza tragedy has been registered under the government’s prosecution, with case number 08/2026 at Nabi Bux police station,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Karachi South Asad Raza said.
The FIR, lodged by a station house officer on behalf of the state, cited a lack of firefighting equipment, no emergency exits and a power outage that hampered evacuations. “Due to these reasons, precious human lives were lost and substantive financial losses also occurred,” the report stated.
The fire started in Shop No. 193, a flower and gift store on the ground floor, and spread rapidly through the crowded complex, according to the FIR. It was registered under sections of the Pakistan Penal Code dealing with unintentional murder, negligent harm, mischief by fire and property damage, but named no suspects, leaving the case open against unknown individuals.
Deadly fires are a recurring problem in Karachi, a city of more than 20 million people, where overcrowded markets, aging infrastructure, illegal construction and weak enforcement of safety regulations frequently contribute to disasters. Officials say a blaze of this scale is rare.
The tragedy has exposed deep frustrations among survivors and relatives, many of whom have gathered at the site in search of answers. During a visit to the charred ruins on Saturday, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former prime minister and convenor of the Awaam Pakistan party, encountered one such family member who lamented the slow pace of identification. “We had given our DNA report from the first day, but we have got nothing so far,” the man said. Abbasi, speaking to reporters, called the incident a “complete failure” of governance and urged officials to draw lessons from it. “There are thousands of such buildings in Karachi,” he said. “What will the government do about those?”
He dismissed the idea of merely replacing a few officials after an inquiry as “no compensation” for the lives and livelihoods destroyed. Later, at a news conference at the Karachi Press Club, Abbasi emphasised the government’s duty to support the bereaved. “It is the responsibility of the government to at least listen to the affected people,” he said.
Sindh’s chief minister, Murad Ali Shah had announced relief measures, including Rs10 million for each victim’s family, with funds already released to the Karachi commissioner for distribution. For the more than 1,100 shops gutted in the fire, 1,102 of them approved by the Sindh Building Control Authority and Shah announced immediate aid of Rs500,000 each to help owners and renters get back on their feet. Traders have estimated total losses from the fire at up to Rs15 billion ($53.6 million).
The government has secured temporary spaces for the displaced traders: 500 shops in one building and 350 in another, with owners agreeing to waive rent for a year. Also, through the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund, the province will cover collateral and interest on loans of up to Rs10 million for those needing to rebuild. Gul Plaza itself is likely to be demolished and reconstructed, with each shop restored to its original size.
But the response has drawn sharp criticism from opposition figures, who accuse the Sindh government, led by the Pakistan Peoples Party, of dodging responsibility. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, a key provincial rival, on Saturday pressed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to form a high-level inquiry commission to probe the negligence that fueled the inferno. At a news conference in Karachi, Farooq Sattar, a senior MQM-P leader, demanded an “independent judicial inquiry” to uncover “incapability, mistake, apathy, shamelessness, impudence.” He questioned the roles of the Sindh government, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and Mayor Murtaza Wahab, asking, “What is the fear and obstruction in setting up a judicial commission?”
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