The fire that erupted at Gul Plaza in the heart of Karachi was not an ordinary accident. It was a systemic failure—one rooted in years of corruption, negligence, and institutional indifference.
The briefing presented by the Fire Brigade to senior authorities exposed realities that citizens have long endured but which have consistently gone unheard.
Gul Plaza, spread across nearly two acres, housed more than 1,500 shops. The fire broke out simultaneously across multiple sections of the market. There were no fire alarms, no initial fire-control mechanisms, and no emergency exits—leaving occupants trapped in a deadly inferno.
Fire Chief Muhammad Humayun stated,
“In my 37 years of service, I have never witnessed a fire spreading across so many areas at the same time.”
While battling the blaze, one firefighter lost his life. Yet, those responsible displayed no sign of accountability or remorse.
In a city of more than 35 million people, the number of available fire tenders is dangerously insufficient. In any civilized city, such a situation would be unacceptable. In Karachi, however, human life appears to hold little value.
According to the KMC Fire Safety Audit Report, only 6 out of 266 buildings located on major arteries such as I.I. Chundrigar Road, Shahrah-e-Faisal, and Shahrah-e-Qaideen have proper fire safety facilities.
More than 200 buildings lack firefighting equipment.
62% have no emergency exits.
70% use substandard electrical wiring.
Short circuits have effectively turned every building into a ticking time bomb.
The critical question remains: Who is responsible?
By law, no commercial or residential building can receive a completion certificate without installing fire safety systems and emergency exits. Ensuring compliance is the responsibility of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA).
However, the reality on the ground tells a different story. SBCA has actively promoted illegal commercialization of residential plots across Karachi. Streets, neighborhoods, and homes have been converted into plazas and markets through bribery and influence.
If an independent survey were conducted by the Sindh Engineering Council, it would reveal that nearly 100% of residential and commercial buildings in Karachi have illegal completion approvals or violate the conditions under which they were regularized.
Because illegality has become SBCA’s core business model.
In SBCA, money can legalize anything. Buildings are approved without fire safety systems or emergency exits. And the inevitable outcome is disasters like Gul Plaza.
This explains why Karachi recorded more than 2,500 fire incidents in 2025 alone. Yet instead of reforms, the Sindh government continues to preside over a system driven by corruption.
Every government institution treats Karachi as a marketplace for plunder.
Over the last 17 years, the Pakistan Peoples Party received approximately PKR 3,500 billion from the federal government. Yet today, Karachi resembles ruins—piles of debris and a symbol of decay.
And that is only the money recorded on paper. Beyond this, billions of rupees are extracted daily through corruption within public institutions and distributed among powerful networks—without accountability.
In developed nations, governments resign over a single incident of institutional failure. But in Karachi, even after major tragedies and countless deaths, rulers remain firmly seated in power—more defiant than ever.
Because they believe any wrongdoing can later be legalized through amendments in the law.
This is the system that has abandoned Karachi.
And this is why citizens across Pakistan—especially in Karachi—are paying the price for silence, poor choices, and collective indifference through the loss of life, property, and dignity.
The fire at Gul Plaza may have been extinguished, but the fire of corruption continues to burn across Karachi.
The question is not how the fire started.
The real question is: Where will the next fire erupt—and under what name?
