Gul Plaza fire highlights poor oversight, scarce resources and safety culture on paper
Clouds of smoke billow from Karachi’s Gul Square following a massive fire. Photo: INP
KARACHI:
Around 80 people remain missing and at least 26 are confirmed dead after a devastating fire ripped through the Gul Plaza shopping centre, destroying the building and trapping dozens inside. The fire raged for more than 36 hours before being brought under control, as thick smoke, repeated water shortages and limited equipment slowed rescue efforts.
Shop owners estimate the losses run into billions of rupees, wiping out years of investment in a few hours. Many traders described scenes of chaos and desperation, accusing rescue officials and the Sindh government of a late and inadequate response. Eyewitnesses and affected merchants said firefighters arrived late, firefighters lacked proper machinery, and rescuers did not have protective masks, preventing them from entering the building during the first critical hours. Several alleged that water was repeatedly depleted, forcing operations to stop and allowing the fire to escalate into a third-degree fire.
The Gul Plaza tragedy has once again laid bare Karachi’s chronic fire safety failures – problems that go far beyond a single building and point to a deeper institutional breakdown in the city’s commercial and industrial areas.
“There is no adequate system,” said a former director general of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ). The express PAkGazettecommenting on the recurring fires in the industrial zone. He said the area lacks both effective internal security mechanisms and meaningful external oversight, creating conditions in which disasters are almost inevitable.
Even a cursory online search for the EPZ shows a disturbing picture, with headlines dominated by fires rather than industrial production or export growth. Former EPZ director general AD Khawaja, who is also former IGP Sindh, said the causes are neither isolated nor accidental but stem from systemic failures, from daily factory operations to the absence of basic fire safety infrastructure. “This is not a mistake or a factory,” he said. “This is a system that fails at every level.”
The Landhi EPZ was created as a cornerstone of Pakistan’s export strategy, offering duty-free imports, tax exemptions and simplified rules to attract investments in sectors such as IT, garments and engineering. Investors were promised modern infrastructure and regulatory support, but those guarantees have been increasingly undermined by weak enforcement of safety standards.
Read more: Gul Plaza fire under control after 36 hours; 14 dead after Karachi shopping center fire
Khawaja pointed to a lack of continuity in leadership as a major factor. “There is no continuity in management,” he said, pointing out that most EPZ presidents operate from Islamabad, far removed from the reality on the ground. “That disconnect is part of the problem.”
Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan said the SPA management’s non-compliance with a Memorandum of Understanding and established safety protocols is a critical issue.
The results are visible. In the last year alone there have been three large fires in the EPZ. Preventative measures remain weak and firefighter access is often blocked. Khan highlighted the danger of basement fires: Without standard operating procedures or proper entry points, firefighters cannot reach the source, allowing flames to spread uncontrollably.
Karachi’s broader fire response system is equally fragile. A recurring detail in fire reports is the arrival of two snorkels in major incidents. This is because the city of more than 35 million inhabitants has only two snorkels in total. Transporting them over long distances costs precious time, allowing fires to intensify before meaningful action is initiated.
Official data reflect the magnitude of the crisis. In 2025, Karachi recorded more than 2,400 fires, causing property losses worth millions of rupees. Firefighters say many lives and livelihoods could have been saved with a functional, well-equipped system.
Read more: Fire breaks out at garment factory in Karachi’s export processing zone
Khawaja said the ZPE does not have its own fire squad. Internal security systems often fail to activate early, while delays in external response allow fires to spread, creating a dangerous cycle of institutional inefficiency.
The physical layout of the area increases the risk. The factories are close together and many are five stories high on plots as small as 6,000 square meters. “Once a fire starts, containing it becomes extremely difficult,” Khawaja said.
Former fire chief Mubeen Ahmed said conditions were not always so bad. “Thirty years ago, the system was much better and these types of incidents were rare,” he said. The express PAkGazette. “Over time, management expanded the area, stacked factories on top of each other and abandoned inspections. That’s when the risks multiplied.”
Another former fire chief, Zafar Mairaj, said the EPZ, despite being under the control of the federal government, collects taxes from factories and is responsible for providing fire safety. While the area has its own fire station, he said it is understaffed, lacks firefighters and cannot respond effectively, forcing the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation to intervene. He questioned why the EPZ continues to “fail to fulfill these responsibilities despite having assumed them.”
Most fires in the area break out in textile and clothing factories, where highly flammable materials allow flames to spread within minutes. The frequency of these incidents means they barely appear beyond the headlines, but together they reveal a deeper institutional failure.
The fact that Karachi’s largest industrial center – a key driver of the city’s economy and national exports – lacks basic fire safety underlines a grim reality: the city that rules the country does not have the systems to protect itself.
With just 28 fire stations serving more than 35 million people, officials warn that without a major overhaul of fire safety infrastructure, stricter enforcement of building regulations and responsible local management, tragedies like the one at Gul Plaza will continue, at an ever-increasing human and economic cost.
