KARACHI: An amusement park in Pakistan’s coastal city of Karachi has allocated a day for men only.
“When we opened the park, we were receiving requests from men on social media to allow them entry, which prompted us to decide to give them a chance to come and enjoy,” Askari Amusement Park spokeswoman Anum Feroz told Arab News. “For us, men also matter.”
Men have welcomed “Man Day” at the amusement park. “I’m happy,” said Noman Mahmud. “I wish it was Sunday instead of Monday, but I’ll try to make it.”
Askari opened its doors on the first day of Eid, with rides that have never before been seen in Pakistan, said Feroz.
The rides include a swing that freefalls 140 feet, a 170-foot air-conditioned Ferris wheel, a three-loop rollercoaster, a 90-foot pendulum that revolves 360 degrees, and a slingshot that slings 120 feet up in the air.
“More than 40 other rides are being installed,” said Feroz. “Askari has also installed an indoor arcade lounge with a virtual-reality area, a high-end food court, more than five acres of parking space, and much more.”
In its first six days, the amusement park accommodated more than 500,000 people.
Pakistani amusement park announces men-only day
Pakistani amusement park announces men-only day
- Build on a land once was fruits and veritable market – then known as Sabzi mandi and now called Purani (old) Sabzi mandi – Askari park was turned into amusement park and opened for public on Eid al-Fitr
- Bachelor youths of Karachi have rejoiced the announcement, saying ‘only their day’ will allow them to enjoy freely
Pakistan's Sindh announces judicial inquiry into deadly Karachi plaza fire
- Around 80 people were killed in Karachi Gul Plaza fire that broke out on Jan. 17, says Sindh information minister
- Says initial fact-finding committee discovered fire tenders were provided water with delay, which affected firefighting
ISLAMABAD: Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon announced on Thursday that the provincial government has requested a judicial inquiry into a deadly Karachi shopping plaza inferno that killed around 80 people earlier this month.
The fire broke out at Karachi's famous Gul Plaza, a multi-story shopping complex in the city's Saddar area, on the night of Jan. 17. The blaze killed 80 and took three days to extinguish, while rescue and relief efforts took over a week.
Speaking to reporters during a news conference, Memon said a Sindh cabinet sub-committee, chaired by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, reviewed a fact-finding committee report on the Karachi Gul Plaza fire.
He said the fact-finding committee discovered that the Civil Defense department conducted fire safety audits of the mall and other buildings since 2023, but no effective, precautionary or legal action was taken to ensure such incidents were avoided. He said as a result, the Civil Defense director and the department's additional controller for district South were both suspended.
"A letter is being written to the honorable chief justice of the Sindh High Court in which we are requesting the chief justice to appoint a serving judge for a judicial inquiry," Memon said.
"So that we can review everything in accordance with the law himself and take decisions on it."
Memon said that there were around 2,000 to 2,500 people in the building when the fire broke out, adding that these included workers and visitors.
He said the sub-committee had also noted that fire tenders were provided water with delay which affected the firefighting services of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), Rescue 1122 and fire brigades.
The minister said the government had also suspended the chief engineer and in-charge hydrants of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation, and that action will be taken against them.
Memon said the committee had also concluded that the KMC, Rescue 1122 and fire brigades' firefighting tools and training to deal with an inferno of such a scale were "inadequate."
He said the government has also suspended the senior director of municipal services in the KMC and that departmental action against him will be taken for not ensuring that the fire staff was properly prepared to tackle such a blaze.
The minister said the sub-committee had directed the relevant department to carry out a needs assessment so that the firefighting capabilities of the provincial and local government are further strengthened.
Fires have become an increasingly frequent occurrence in Karachi, a megacity of more than 20 million people, where fire services remain severely overstretched and under-resourced relative to population density and the scale of commercial activity.
Successive deadly incidents have drawn criticism of the provincial Sindh administration over lax enforcement of building codes, inadequate inspections and limited emergency response capacity.
Sindh's opposition parties, especially the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan, accuse the Sindh government of neglecting Karachi's infrastructural development. The provincial government rejects these allegations.
