Fire Not Forgotten

The Gul Plaza fire was not merely an accident. It was an immense tragedy born of negligence, administrative ineptitude and corruption. Lives were lost, families were shattered and public confidence was once again tested by a system that too often acts only after disaster strikes. The anger that followed was loud, justified and persistent. Its central demands — accountability, transparency and credible punishment — remain entirely legitimate. The Sindh government would do well to remember that. Under normal circumstances, the judicial commission’s report should have been treated as public property. Citizens have the right to know what went wrong, who failed in their duties and whether those failures were the result of incompetence, criminal negligence or collusion. Instead, the government has hidden behind the convenient shield of an “ongoing investigation”, buying itself more time while the report remains out of public view. Guterres urges Security Council to ensure natural resources drive peace, not conflict That excuse cannot last forever. The Sindh Information Commission may have found legal grounds to defer disclosure, but the larger political and moral question remains unanswered. More troublingly, the investigators themselves told the commission that they had not received or reviewed the inquiry reports. This raises serious questions about how an investigation can proceed credibly when the very documents meant to establish responsibility are not in the hands of those conducting it. The provincial government must understand that delay is not accountability. Nor can silence be mistaken for public acceptance. Just because the Gul Plaza fire is no longer breaking news does not mean the people have forgotten. The victims’ families have not forgotten. The citizens of Karachi have not forgotten. They are waiting for the Sindh government’s promises to be fulfilled in good faith. France evacuates 20, 000 as wildfires spread in south-west That faith is not unlimited. The report must ultimately be released, responsibility must be fixed and credible action must follow.

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