Gul Plaza build and leased before PPP tenure, says Sharjeel

KARACHI: Sindh Senior Minister and Provincial Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit, Sharjeel Inam Memon, has said that a few political parties are politicizing a national tragedy such as the Gul Plaza incident, and instead of sharing the pain and suffering of the people, they are using this tragedy for political purposes.

In a statement Memon said that the construction, approval, and legal matters related to Gul Plaza took place during periods when the Sindh government or the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had no role, and that all these decisions were the responsibility of the then city governments and relevant institutions.

He said that the Karachi Building Control Authority received the application for the construction of Gul Plaza in 1979, and the approval for construction was granted in 1983 when Abdul Sattar Afghani of Jamaat Islami was the Mayor of Karachi.

Sharjeel Inam Memon said that the land was given on a 99-year lease in 1884, which expired in 1983. The lease was renewed eight years later in 1991, when Dr. Farooq Sattar was the mayor, and his signature is on record.

He said that the initial building plan allowed for a basement and two floors, and in 1998 the Karachi Building Control Authority approved the construction of a third floor.

Sharjeel Inam Memon said that all irregularities related to the Gul Plaza were formally regularized in 2003, when Naimatullah Khan was the Mayor of Karachi.

He said that all these steps were taken before the 18th Constitutional Amendment, when local bodies were directly responsible. All legal and administrative decisions regarding Gul Plaza were taken under local governments led by Jamaat-e-Islami, politicizing this issue is tantamount to distorting the facts.