KARACHI: Jamaat-i-islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Tuesday demanded that Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah step down, saying he has lost “all moral justification to remain in the office” after the Gul Plaza tragedy.

Speaking at a press conference here, he said that the Gul Plaza fire badly exposed the PPP government and shows that the entire provincial administration lacked an effective firefighting system.

Hafiz Naeem said that after the tragedy, there is an atmosphere of despair and helplessness across the country, especially in Karachi.

“Our demand is that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah should resign immediately as he has lost all moral justification to remain in the office,” he said.

He said an empowered local government is the most viable solution to the problems of Karachi, adding that neither provincial status, nor federal control could fix the city issues.

“A system of occupation cannot function by disrespecting the people’s vote...Karachi’s authority should belong only to the people of the city. Today, people are dissatisfied with the Sindh government; tomorrow, they will raise their voice against the federation,” he said while commenting on the demands for federal control over Karachi.

“Empowered local government systems are successful in all major cities of the world. Look at London and New York in the West, and Tehran and Istanbul in the Muslim world. They are successful models of empowered local government system. Even today, the citizens of Karachi call the period from 2001 to 2005 a golden era. Under the leadership of Naimatullah Khan, the city government put Karachi on the right path,” he said.

He said that the people of Karachi elected JI in the local government elections, but “through rigging, a PPP mayor was imposed”.

The JI, he said, will not abandon the people of Karachi. He said the party would hold a march on Sharea Faisal on February 1.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2026