Karachi court rejects plea to form JIT to probe Gul Plaza inferno

A court in Karachi has rejected a request by the accused in the Gul Plaza fire case to form a joint investigation team (JIT).

The case was heard with accused Tanveer Pasta and others appearing before the court. Defence lawyer Javed Mir had requested the formation of a JIT, but the court rejected the plea, observing that JITs are formed in terrorism cases.

The court said it would decide at the next hearing whether to approve the challan and whether government institutions should be nominated as accused in the case. The hearing was adjourned until September 18.

During the hearing, prosecutor Hassan Bhatti held Tanveer Pasta primarily responsible for negligence, saying he had failed to call the fire brigade.

Defence lawyer Javed Mir, however, alleged that the new investigating officer had also attempted to protect government institutions despite a court order directing that they be included in the investigation.

Mir said Tanveer Pasta was neither the builder nor the owner of the property, adding that the Sindh Building Control Authority had also failed to take action against the builder. He said more than 70 people had died in the fire and that the second challan had cleared the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, SBCA, fire brigade and other institutions.

The defence lawyer argued that the fire broke out on the ground floor, where no one died, and that more than 5,000 people were evacuated. He claimed the deaths were caused not by the fire but by suffocation resulting from negligence and incompetence of government institutions.

He also alleged that the fire brigade did not have water available and that the deputy commissioner South had reached the scene within five minutes, but the investigating officer did not record his statement.

DSP Aamir Waris, the investigating officer, told the court that there were 16 doors on the ground floor, which was why no one died there, but people had installed iron-grilled windows. He said some victims had been burnt and rejected the claim that no one died from burns.