Karachi [Pakistan], January 23 : Nearly a week after the catastrophic fire at Gul Plaza shopping centre, anger and despair among families of the missing erupted into open protest, exposing what relatives describe as a troubling lack of urgency by authorities, as reported by The Express Tribune.
Women clutching photographs of sons, husbands and brothers assembled near the charred site, accusing officials and rescue teams of moving painfully slowly while their loved ones remained unaccounted for, it said.
The death toll from the January 17 fire at the shopping centre in the Pakistani city of Karachi has risen to at least 67, and rescue teams have been working to locate dozens of people still missing after the blaze quickly spread through the shopping centre, fuelled by goods such as cosmetics, clothing and plastic household items, Al Jazeera reported
According to The Express Tribune, the demonstrators said they had been running from one office to another since the blaze, only to receive vague assurances instead of concrete information. With parts of the structure still buried under rubble, families questioned why debris clearance had not been completed even six days after the disaster. Several women described the wait as "mentally unbearable," saying every passing hour without answers was compounding their trauma.
Tensions escalated as protesters raised slogans against the administration along MA Jinnah Road, a key artery in the city. In their desperation, some attempted to push past security barriers to reach the damaged building, convinced that faster action could still save lives.
Police intervened to prevent the situation from spiralling, forming a cordon to hold back the crowd. The fire, which ripped through one of the city's busiest commercial centres, is feared to have killed dozens. Yet the absence of an official, comprehensive briefing on the number of missing has fuelled mistrust, as cited by The Express Tribune.
Protesters also confronted members of the Gul Plaza's management committee, demanding accountability and an immediate acceleration of rescue and recovery operations. As grief-stricken relatives continue to camp near the site, their central demand remains unchanged: clear the rubble, finish the search, and tell the truth about what happened, as reported by The Express Tribune.
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