Two awarded death sentence in Baldia factory fire case

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday awarded death sentence to Abdul Rahman alias Bhola and Zubair alias Charya in 2012 Baldia factory fire case.

The court acquitted Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM-P) leader Rauf Siddiqui for lack of evidence, while Hammad Siddiqui has been declared a proclaimed offender in the inferno case.

Umar Hasan Qadri, Dr Abdul Sattar Khan and Iqbal Adeeb Khanum have been acquitted, while four others were convicted to life imprisonment for facilitating the crime.

Over 260 workers were burnt alive when the multi-storey garment factory was set on fire in Baldia Town on 11th September, 2012 making it the deadliest industrial blaze in Pakistan’s history.

The court has announced the much-delayed verdict after more than eight years. The jail officials produced two main suspects including Rehman alias Bhola and Zubair alias Charya before the court.

On 5th July, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had stated in its conclusive report that the incident was an act of terrorism. The investigators had revealed in the 27-page report that the factory had been torched over non-payment of Rs250 million extortion.

The JIT stated had also sought to provide protection to the witnesses of the incident. It emerged that Hammad Siddiqui and Rehman Bhola were directly involved in the incident.

The JIT members had found out that many elements attempted internally and externally influence the investigation process in order to benefit the people behind the carnage.

The two main suspects acted on the instructions of the then chief of MQM’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee, Hammad Siddiqui,  over the non-payment of Rs250 million extortion by the factory’s owners.

The trial was conducted in the judicial complex inside the central prison. The court recorded testimonies of 400 witnesses.

Factory owner Abdul Aziz Bhaila, his two sons Arshad Bhaila and Shahid Bhaila, a general manager and four gatekeepers were initially charged for alleged negligence in the inferno.

In February 2015, the Pakistan Rangers Sindh submitted a joint investigation team (JIT) report in the Sindh High Court, which revealed that the factory was set on fire after its owners failed to pay extortion and a reinvestigation was ordered.

In March 2016, the JIT recommended that a new case be registered under the anti-terrorism law. In December that year, Abdul Rehman alias Bhola was extradited after being arrested in Bangkok through Interpol.

During interrogation and his confessional statement before a magistrate, Rehman disclosed that he had instructed Zubair and others to set the factory ablaze on the instructions of Hammad Siddiqui. He also alleged Rauf Siddiqui registered a case against the owners of the factory.