KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has approached the Sindh Information Commission (SIC), seeking direction for the provincial government to make the report of the Gul Plaza Judicial Commission public.

Citing the chief secretary, secretary law department and others as respondents, the MQM-P filed a complaint/appeal before the SIC under the Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2016, and Article 19-A of the Constitution against the non-issuance of the inquiry report.

The party submitted that it had asked the respondents to provide the inquiry report around a month ago, but the secretary of the law department had even refused to receive the application of the party on the subject matter.

Senior party leader Dr Farooq Sattar along with Tariq Mansoor Advocate filed the complaint/appeal and said that 84 people had lost their lives and over 200 others sustained injuries during the deadly inferno which erupted in Gul Plaza on the night of Jan 17.

However, he said that despite the passage of considerable time, the aggrieved families were still seeking justice while it was the legal and moral responsibility of state institutions to bring all the facts and circumstances behind this devastating tragedy before the public and determine the accountable persons/officials.

Dr Sattar further maintained that in the judicial inquiry report comprising four volumes, various government officials and departments were found responsible for their alleged criminal negligence and anomalies, but the report has not been made public.

The Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act has provided basic rights to citizens for access to information and thus, the respondents must provide the inquiry report and other allied documents to the applicant, he added.

He also hoped that the SIC would issue directives to the authorities concerned to make the complete judicial inquiry report public in the interest of justice and it would also help to avoid such tragic incidents in the future.

Initially, the Sindh government had formed a two-member inquiry committee comprising Karachi commissioner and city police chief. However, on opposition parties’ demand it formed a judicial commission to probe the deadly fire.

The single-member commission, headed by Justice Agha Faisal of the Sindh High Court, was notified on Feb 10, to scrutinise the devastating inferno at Gul Plaza and complete the inquiry within the period.

Besides fixing responsibility, the commission was tasked with examining if the building approvals and lease extensions from the Sindh Building Control Authority, its predecessor organisations and the Karachi Municipal Corporation were granted in accordance with the applicable laws, rules and regulations.

The commission had begun its inquiry shortly after the notification and concluded it within the prescribed period while the sealed inquiry report along with four additional volumes were handed over to the secretary law department on April 7.

The commission had also said that the report along with the entire record had been duly sealed as it would remain the prerogative of the provincial government to determine whether the same was to be brought into the public domain.

It may also be recalled that the MQM-P had also approached the judicial commission during the hearing to become a party in the proceedings.

However, the commission had turned down the same on the grounds that as per the terms of reference (ToR), the party could not become an intervener in these proceedings and advised it to submit the information through email after the counsel had submitted that the party has knowledge of some crucial facts and circumstances pertaining to the fire.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2026