KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput on Wednesday nominated Justice Agha Faisal to head a judicial inquiry into the Gul Plaza blaze that claimed at least 73 lives and destroyed more than 1,100 shops in Karachi.
The move follows a formal request by the Sindh government for a judicial probe into the inferno, which raged for nearly two days before being brought under control. According to a letter issued by the SHC registrar to the Sindh Home Department secretary, Justice Faisal has been appointed as a single-member commission to “probe the causes of the fire incident of Gul Plaza shopping centre, Karachi”, for a period to be notified by the provincial government.
The nomination was made under Section 3 of the Sindh Tribunals of Inquiry Ordinance, 1969, after the provincial government sought terms of reference (ToRs) for the inquiry on January 30.
Earlier, the SHC had rejected a separate request by Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori to constitute a judicial commission, citing non-compliance with relevant legal requirements and established case law.
On January 29, the Sindh government had written to the chief justice, seeking the nomination of a sitting judge to ascertain responsibility for the fire and examine possible failures in regulatory oversight. The Chief Minister’s House had urged swift processing of the request, stressing the need for an early response.
The decision to seek a judicial inquiry came after a cabinet subcommittee of the PPP-led Sindh government reviewed a report by a two-member fact-finding team and concluded that an independent probe was necessary. While opposition parties had unanimously rejected the preliminary findings, Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon denied that the move was made under political pressure.
Following its own investigation, the Sindh government suspended several officials and initiated departmental proceedings against others. Those facing action include senior officials of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), and the Civil Defence Department. Memon had highlighted delays in water supply to fire tenders, which hampered firefighting operations by the KMC fire brigade and Rescue 1122.
An FIR registered by Karachi police on January 23 described the Gul Plaza fire as the result of “negligence and carelessness”, a finding now set to be scrutinised by the judicial commission.
