Karachi blaze triggers heated exchange in National Assembly

The National Assembly on Tuesday witnessed a fiery session, with government supporters at odds with each other on the issue of the fire at Karachi’s Gul Plaza.

The session, moderated by Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, witnessed Defence Minister Khawaja Asif point out two things that will be required in the future constitutional amendment: there should be a common curriculum and an efficient local government setup.

Tension escalated between the parties quickly. MQM members, along with members of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), made their criticisms known in the debate on the tragedy. The other alliance parties did not hold back with criticism of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) either.

MQM lawmakers asked for a chance to discuss the incident of fire at Gul Plaza and sought a suspension of usual business so that a debate on the matter could be conducted. At first, the government was not willing to suspend business, but then protests compelled it to stop.

Opening the discussion, MQM lawmaker Dr. Farooq Sattar strongly denounced the fire handling, which exposed the failure of the institutions, as well as the failure of the provincial government led by the PPP. PPP members reacted to the denunciation.

A member of the opposition party, PPP, named Abdul Qadir Patel, accused the MQM founder, Altaf Hussain's, bodyguard, Goga, of being instrumental in the unauthorized construction of Gul Plaza.

However, a MQM spokesperson named Wasim Hussain contradicted the statement by saying that the plaintiff had himself contributed to the construction of the plaza in

Defence Minister Muhammad Khawaja Asif set out this debate in the background of governance problems in general: “The military regimes in our country have always been doing this. We political governments in Pakistan have never made use of these systems.”

He emphasized that for the National Assembly to be functional, its representation should extend to neighborhoods, and a functional local governance should be in place.

Otherwise, he asserted, the 18th Amendment becomes, in essence, meaningless. He stressed that for the next constitutional amendment, a common curriculum will have to be ensured, along with a functional local government.