ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided a high-level security meeting on Friday, asking the interior ministry to coordinate with provinces to eliminate militant violence and ensure the safety of Chinese nationals working on various projects in the country.
There has been a surge in militant violence in Pakistan for well over a year, with a recent suicide attack targeting five Chinese nationals in the northwest, underscoring the growing threat to foreign workers and investments in the region.
The incident spotlighted the urgent need to strengthen security measures, with the government promising to make every effort to prevent the recurrence of such violent acts and ensure the safety of Chinese workers within its borders.
“We will continue to fight the specter of terrorism until it is eradicated from the country,” the prime minister was quoted in a statement released by his office.
It added that he “directed the interior ministry to enhance cooperation with provinces for the eradication of terrorism and further improvement of provincial counter-terrorism departments.”
The prime minister said he would personally review the security of Chinese nationals in his monthly meetings.
He instructed the ministry to develop a comprehensive plan for the regular audit of security procedures for foreign workers in Pakistan.
The ministry officials briefed the prime minister on the overall peace and security situation of the country and their own performance during the meeting.
The country’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, heads of security agencies and other relevant senior officials were also present on the occasion.
Pakistan PM calls for enhanced security measures to protect Chinese nationals amid militant violence
https://arab.news/nm6r2
Pakistan PM calls for enhanced security measures to protect Chinese nationals amid militant violence
- PM instructs the interior ministry to improve coordination with provinces, strengthen counterterrorism units
- He seeks a comprehensive plan for the regular audit of security procedures for Chinese nationals in Pakistan
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.
