Housed inside the city’s central prison, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) hearing the Baldia factory case announced framing charges against the accused at the next hearing on September.
The announcement, incidentally, came on a day that marked five years of the deadly incident in which over 250 workers employed at the garment factory, Ali Enterprises, in Baldia Town were devoured by the merciless fire that erupted in the industrial unit on September 11, 2012.
At the outset of Monday’s hearing, the judge concerned noted that the prosecution had supplied the case documents to all accused. The trial court, however, expressed displeasure over absence of two accused, Umar Hassan Qadiri and Ali Hassan Qadiri, and ordered the investigation officer (IO) to ensure their presence at the next hearing.
The rest of the suspects, including Abdur Rehman alias Rehman Bhola and Zubair alias Charya, were in attendance. The ATC concerned has received a letter from the Sindh High Court (SHC) directing the court to speedily conclude the trial and submit a progress report to the provincial high court.
At a previous hearing, the court had also accepted the Rangers counsel’s request to hear the Baldia factory fire case on a daily basis. The ATC had observed that the matter would be heard regularly after September 11.
But the court has yet to hear arguments on the plea of Abdul Rehman alias Rehman Bhola, the key suspect allegedly involved in the arson attack. The court had issued directives to the defence lawyers, the state attorney and the special public prosecutor representing the Sindh Rangers to advance arguments at the next hearing.
The Rangers prosecutor, Sajid Mehboob, had alleged that the defence attorneys were trying to delay the legal proceedings. He said the families of victims were impatiently awaiting a decision.
The ATC concerned also announced reserving its ruling on the acquittal pleas of two employees of Ali Enterprises, Shah Rukh and Ali Ahmed, who have pleaded not guilty. Two other employers of the burnt factory, Abdul Aziz Bhaila and Shahid Bhaila, moved their applications seeking orders for the return of their bail surety amount. The court yet has to pass its ruling on the pleas.
It may be noted that key accused Rehman Bhola was arrested in Bangkok in December last year by Thai Interpol at a hotel in the red light district Nana area. Later, he was brought back to Karachi by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Bhola had pleaded not guilty in the court when charges were framed against him. He had told the court that the allegations hurled at him were false. He alleged that MQM members were involved in the incident. He had claimed that the garments factory was set on fire on the order of the then Karachi Tanzeemi Committee Incharge Hammad Sidiqui. He also claimed that Asghar Baig had set the factory on fire on September 11, 2012.
The case firstly was sent to a subordinate court and later it was transferred to the ATC (II). The judge concerned while adjudging the charge sheet had observed, “I have gone through this challan (charge sheet) as well as the JIT (joint investigation team) report and do not agree with the IO who has shown accused number one to 13 in blue ink (specific colours define different kinds of suspects such as those in custody, absconding and released) as there is no evidence against them.”
The 13 people who were given a clean chit by the report included the factory owners Abdul Aziz Bhaila, his sons Arshad and Shahid, manager Muhammad Mansoor, gatekeepers Fazal Ahmed, Arshad Mehmood and Ali Muhammad, another employee Shahrukh, Hyderabad-based businessmen Ali Hassan Qadri and Umar Hassan Qadri, Zubair alias Charya, Dr Abdul Sattar and Iqbal Adeeb Khanum.
The judge had noted that the owners and the manager allegedly closed or ordered closure of the factory’s gates which resulted in the mass deaths. Regarding the other suspects, the judge observed that they allegedly abetted the crime one way or the other by extorting money on the pretext of distributing it among the victims’ families.
Rejecting the police report, the ATC had taken notice of the crime against the 13 people and summoned all of them and kept up issuing non-bailable warrants of arrest for the remaining absconding suspects.
The extortion factor surfaced following the revelation of an under-trial prisoner who reportedly said that the factory was set on fire over non-payment of extortion money to the MQM. This led to a reinvestigation of the case and the role of more people came to the forefront.
According to the JIT report, the then Karachi Tanzimi Committee Incharge of the MQM, Hammad Siddiqui, Baldia Town sector incharge Rehman alias Bhola and Farooq Saleem demanded Rs200 million as protection money from the owners which they were refused. In reaction, the factory was set on fire. The workers were trapped inside the two-storey building as there were no emergency exits and the main gate was locked. After the incident, the owners were harassed by an MQM minister.
Meanwhile, the Qadri brothers, who are alleged to have contacts with the then MQM deputy convener Anis Qaimkhani, who is now the Pakistan Sarzameen Party (PSP) president, brokered a deal with the party for the owners. Around Rs60 million was deposited in the bank account of a close confidant of Qaimkhani.
The amount, as per the deal, was supposed to be distributed among the victims’ families through the party platform as aid, but this never happened. Instead, a bungalow was purchased in Hyderabad with that money in the name of Khanum.
Contrary to the facts mentioned in the JIT report, the charge sheet was silent on many points like the name of the MQM minister involved. It has also not upheld Kaimkhani as a suspect. Moreover, the roles of a former prime minister belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party who helped the factory owners secure protective bail from the Lahore High Court and a leader of the same party who allegedly took Rs150 million to settle the case have not been described in detail, nor have they been implicated.
Rejecting the police report, the ATC had taken notice of the crime against the 13 people. It has summoned the factory owners and the manager for their statements while issuing non-bailable warrants of arrest for the remaining suspects.
The Ali Enterprises Fire Affectees’ Association and those supporting the victims’ families like the National Trade Union Federation, and the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights had termed the order a ‘remarkable decision’.