Gul Plaza fire: Initial report says KMC land leased under MQM, violations continued during JI tenure
A detailed initial report on the Gul Plaza tragedy has been submitted to the Sindh government, claiming a long trail of land ownership disputes, lease violations and regulatory failures spanning more than a century and linking key decisions to periods when the city was governed under MQM and Jamaat-e-Islami mayoral administrations.
According to the report, the land on which Gul Plaza was built originally belonged to the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC). In 1883, the plot was leased to the East India Company for 99 years for tram service operations.
The report states that during the mayoral tenure of MQM leader Farooq Sattar, the same land was leased to a private company named Jeneka. Notably, the Jeneka Group purchased the Gul Plaza land just one month before the original lease period expired.
Despite the lease having ended, construction of the building allegedly began and continued in violation of regulations. The report confirms that KMC land was formally leased for Gul Plaza on November 3, 1991, during Farooq Sattar’s tenure as mayor, and bears his signature.
It further reveals that the land was leased at a nominal rent of Rs3 per square yard. Construction activities reportedly continued on the KMC land without a valid lease from 1883 until 1990.
The report also points to administrative inaction, stating that the then-mayor Abdul Sattar Afridi of Jamaat-e-Islami did not take effective steps to halt the construction despite the irregularities.
In 2003, additional floors of the building were regularized during the mayoral tenure of Naimatullah Khan, also from Jamaat-e-Islami, according to the findings.
The report highlights serious lapses in oversight and governance, suggesting that illegal leasing practices and unauthorized construction played a key role in the circumstances surrounding the Gul Plaza incident.
Sindh government officials are expected to review the findings and decide on further legal and administrative action in light of the revelations.