KARACHI: The opposition in the City Council on Monday rejected the findings of the judicial commission that investigated the Gul Plaza fire, demanding that the Sindh government accept responsibility for the tragedy, initiate criminal negligence proceedings against those responsible and remove Mayor Murtaza Wahab from office.

Addressing a press conference at his office in the KMC building, Leader of the Opposition in the City Council Advocate Saifuddin of the Jamaat-i-Islami said the commission’s report was incomplete as it identified failures of several government institutions but did not fix responsibility on individual officers or set out a clear course of action against those found negligent.

He demanded that the mayor, the deputy commissioner, Civil Defence officials and Fire Brigade officers be investigated in connection with the FIR registered after the Gul Plaza tragedy. He also called for the resignation of ministers and other officials responsible for the departments concerned, and urged the chief minister to apologise to the public.

The opposition leader’s criticism came after the judicial commission’s report found failures across several institutions involved in building regulation, fire safety and emergency response. The commission did not hold a single person or entity directly responsible for the disaster, instead describing failures involving institutions including the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), KMC, Fire Brigade, Civil Defence, Rescue 1122 and the district administration.

Advocate Saifuddin wonders why the commission did not fix responsibility on any individual; demands criminal proceedings

Mr Saifuddin said the commission itself had established that the disaster could have had a different outcome if the relevant institutions had performed their responsibilities effectively.

“The report says people could have been brought out alive if the institutions had worked properly,” he said, questioning why no individual official had subsequently been held responsible.

He criticised the performance of the fire department, saying the report had pointed to its failure to respond effectively and to the late availability of water at the scene. He also referred to the commission’s findings concerning the Electrical Inspector, claiming that Gul Plaza had never undergone an electrical inspection.

Mr Saifuddin said Civil Defence and the deputy commissioner had also failed to discharge their responsibilities, while describing the SBCA as a key institution whose regulatory failures had contributed to repeated tragedies in Karachi.

He also criticised the government’s handling of the emergency response, recalling that mayor Wahab arrived at the site about 23 hours after the incident. According to the opposition leader, there was a lack of coordination and equipment among the institutions responding to the fire, while officials at the scene appeared to have “surrendered” at an early stage.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2026