Karachi’s governance breakdown leaves citizens at risk

The Gul Plaza fire has once again exposed Karachi’s long-standing governance failures, raising serious questions about the city’s safety, regulatory compliance, and political accountability.

As the tragedy’s details emerge, it is becoming increasingly clear that Karachi’s residents are paying the price for institutional negligence and a corrupt system that continues to undermine basic civic safety.

As the facts surrounding the Gul Plaza tragedy continue to unfold, the Sindh government’s criminal negligence and Karachi’s corrupt system are being brought to light. Yesterday, rescue teams made a chilling discovery when they recovered at least 30 bodies from a single shop inside Gul Plaza.

This grim finding has pushed the death toll beyond 60, while dozens remain missing. The fire at Gul Plaza has now become the most devastating fire disaster in Karachi since the Baldia Town factory tragedy.

In the latest episode of On My Radar, Kamran Khan noted that the city’s regulatory failures have worsened the situation. He emphasized that despite years of warnings and past disasters, Karachi still does not enforce basic safety laws. This reflects a deeper problem: a lack of effective governance and oversight, even in critical areas such as fire safety.

After years of delay, the Sindh Building Control Authority has announced a decision to finally enforce fire safety regulations. However, the real question remains whether this decision will be implemented.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has admitted that fire safety is not being enforced even in the Chief Minister’s House. This indicates that if compliance is lacking at the highest level of government, expecting markets and buildings across Karachi to follow safety regulations seems unrealistic.

Such statements serve as a direct indictment of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which has governed Sindh continuously for 18 years. They show that Karachi is politically and administratively neglected. The citizens of Karachi are forced to pay a daily price for living in the city - sometimes with their lives, sometimes with their property, and often through constant suffering.

The nature of these deaths is tragic and varied: some burn in fires, others fall into open drains or sewers, some are crushed by dumpers or water tankers, many are buried under collapsing buildings, and several fall victim to street violence and criminal attacks.

Those who remain alive still face severe hardships, including broken roads, water shortages, overflowing garbage, and inadequate transportation. International organizations have repeatedly ranked Karachi among the worst cities in the world for living conditions. These realities confirm that Karachi remains politically and administratively abandoned, with no end in sight.

The question now is: what is the solution? Should the 18th Amendment be revoked? Should Karachi become a separate province? Or should the city be granted an empowered local government system to ensure accountability and proper governance?