Five years on, relatives of Baldia factory fire long for justice

KARACHI: After a passage of five years, relatives of the victims who perished in the inferno in a garment factory in Karachi’s Baldia still long for justice as the central characters behind the arson attack still remain at large.

The blaze erupted at Ali Enterprises on September 11, 2012, a case was registered a day after, declaring it a mishap.

However, the case took a new turn when a political party worker, Rizwan Qureshi, revealed before a joint investigation team (JIT) that the fire did not break out accidently, but was deliberately started by workers of a political party.

ATC to indict Baldia factory fire accused on September 25

In September 2012, a deadly fire had devoured 269 lives at a factory situated in Karachi's Baldia Town

The revelation shook the Sindh government and it ordered re-investigation into the case on March 26, 2015. 

A JIT was constituted to probe the incident, which recorded statements of 58 witnesses, including owners of the enterprise.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the factory was deliberately set ablaze over non-payment of protection money. A political party had demanded Rs250 million protection money from owners of Ali Enterprises, the JIT report stated.

The interim challan of the case was submitted to the court after four years, which stated that there were no evidence against the 13 individuals accused, including the factory owners.

The JIT report put the entire blame on Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Hammad Siddiqui and sector in-charge Abdul Rehman alias Bhola.

Rehman was later arrested from Bangkok, but the investigations were delayed and justice for 259 lives still lies under a stack of files.