Khawaja Asif says it is ‘humanly impossible’ to govern Karachi under the current administrative structure
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif addresses the National Assembly session on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. PHOTO: Facebook/ National Assembly of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD:
The fire in Karachi’s Gul Plaza dominated debate in the National Assembly on Tuesday, with MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar describing the fire as a “national tragedy” and accusing the Sindh government and city authorities of negligence and a delayed response.
He said Karachi residents had the right to question both the provincial and federal governments about where the city stood on their priority list.
The fire that broke out late Saturday night at Gul Plaza has killed at least 28 people, while dozens are still unaccounted for.
Tempers flared in the house as MQM-P members tore up agenda papers and demanded that routine business be suspended to focus solely on the Karachi tragedy. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar later moved a motion to adjourn the remaining agenda, which was seconded by Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah.
Sattar said decades of neglect had left Karachi critically short of firefighting resources, arguing that the city was undercounted, underrepresented and underfunded. He paid tribute to firefighter Furqan Ali, who died while battling the blaze, saying accountability was inevitable and those responsible must seek forgiveness from the public. He renewed calls for stronger local governments, saying a city the size of Karachi could not be run by a chief minister alone.
PPP leader Shehla Raza rejected MQM-P’s criticism and said there was no need for ministers to immediately visit incident sites and the priority should be effective emergency management. Outlining the official response to the fire, she acknowledged delays caused by traffic jams and insisted Sindh had a functioning local government system.
Later, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif reiterated calls for empowered local governments, saying it was “humanly impossible” to govern Karachi under the current administrative structure.
Read: Gul Plaza fire toll rises to 28 as DNA tests begin to identify victims
“I don’t blame individuals, I blame the system,” he said, arguing that the concentration of authority in provincial capitals had weakened governance.
He said the spirit of the 18th Amendment had yet to be realized as power had not been meaningfully devolved to the grassroots level. True public empowerment, he said, required a strong and autonomous local government system.
“If there is no empowered local government, there will be no effective fire department, no timely emergency response and no accountability at the neighborhood level,” he said.
Calling the Gul Plaza fire a wake-up call, Asif urged parliament to seriously reflect and pursue constitutional reforms to strengthen local governments.
MQM-P lawmaker Wasim Hussain, reacting to remarks by PPP’s Abdul Qadir Patel, accused political rivals of past complicity in Karachi’s problems, including developments linked to Gul Plaza. Patel denied the claims and said the Sindh government was committed to stabilizing the city and supporting those affected by the fire.
The debate had opened with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Shehryar Afridi congratulating Mahmood Khan Achakzai on becoming the opposition leader, calling it an honor for Balochistan and the country. He questioned the coordination between provincial and federal disaster agencies in the wake of the Karachi fire, while criticizing the use of the term “internally displaced persons” for people affected by military operations in the merged districts, saying forced displacement undermined human dignity.
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Afridi alleged that tribal areas had been used to extract funds without delivery of basic services and called for wider jirga consultations to take all stakeholders into confidence.
The House also saw heated exchanges on security operations in Khyber and Waziristan, with PTI and JUI-F lawmakers protesting displacement in harsh winter conditions. PTI’s Iqbal Afridi warned that failure to provide relief could spark protests, while former speaker Asad Qaiser accused the federal government of withholding funds owed to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa under the NFC award.
Several bills, including a proposed constitutional amendment and institutional legislation, were referred to standing committees before the session adjourned until 1 p.m. 11 Wednesday.
