KARACHI: Police have submitted an investigation report for the Gul Plaza tragedy to the prosecution, terming the fire an accident and naming multiple individuals, including the market committee president and an 11-year-old child.
According to sources, the Gul Plaza judicial commission report was not made part of the challan.
Citing a Punjab Forensic Laboratory report, the investigation found no traces of explosives and concluded the blaze was accidental. It said the fire started at shop number 193, which shopkeeper Nematullah often left in the care of his 11-year-old son, Huzaifa.
Investigators allege Huzaifa set artificial flowers alight after throwing lit matchsticks. Both Nematullah and Huzaifa have been held responsible for negligence and carelessness.
Named as accused in the report are Nematullah, his son Huzaifa, Gul Plaza Committee President Tanveer Pasta, Vice President Ammar Ismail, General Secretary Muhammad Amin, and Joint Secretary Muhammad Ramzan. Police have declared all of them absconders.
The report said the market union was negligent for allowing a minor to work in the shop. It added that after the fire broke out, the union neither issued a timely emergency alert nor sought help.
All gates of Gul Plaza were shut and were not opened in time by the union, which caused severe difficulties for people trying to escape. The closed doors were termed administrative negligence.
Investigators said President Tanveer Pasta called K-Electric to cut the power, plunging the market into darkness and trapping many people inside.
The report states 72 people died in the Gul Plaza tragedy, while the remains of four bodies remain unclaimed to date. Statements of four eyewitnesses were also recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure during the investigation.
