Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh vice-president Rizwan Niazi today strongly reacted to the Gul Plaza tragedy, saying that Karachi continues to witness an unending series of disasters from Gul Plaza to Millennium Mall and other sites reflecting grave governance failures. He said that while the names of buildings change, government negligence and incompetence remain the same, giving rise to one tragedy after another.
Niazi said every such incident is a stark indictment of the ruling authorities’ incapacity. Fires break out, buildings collapse, and innocent citizens lose their lives, yet no one is held accountable. From the Baldia factory inferno to the Gul Plaza incident, he said, not dozens but hundreds of innocent people have perished, while the corrupt system continues to protect itself.
He maintained that fire safety laws exist only on paper and in official files, with little to no implementation on the ground. As a result, many buildings in Karachi have effectively turned into death traps. The administration’s criminal negligence, he said, is unforgivable, and the failure to ensure public safety represents the government’s biggest shortcoming.
The PTI leader said the government has effectively failed, and its incompetent decisions are breeding large-scale tragedies. After every disaster, he added, authorities issue statements and announcements, but practical measures remain absent. Citizens continue to die while rulers remain silent spectators.
Urging immediate preventive steps, Niazi also called on local building associations to put their own safety arrangements in place until the government began to fulfil its responsibilities, stressing that such measures could help save precious human lives.
He asserted that the Gul Plaza fire was not an accident but a ‘massacre’, and demanded swift and strict action against those responsible. Rejecting the notion that Karachi is leaderless, he said PTI would raise the voice of the people and continue to hold the culprits accountable.
Mr Niazi demanded that the government immediately announce a special relief and compensation package for the victims of the Gul Plaza tragedy and adopt effective measures to prevent such incidents in the future. He reiterated that PTI stands with the affected families and traders and will not abandon them under any circumstances.