Justice Maqbool Baqar while presiding over a division bench had disposed of an appeal filed by factory owners, seeking its directions for the trial court for expeditious disposal of the case.
The court while hearing some miscellaneous applications in a petitions filed by NGOs – Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, United Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, had called for probing and deciding the case within a year.
‘Clearing ambiguities’
The counsel of Baldia fire victims has attempted to clarify some “ambiguities” pertaining to the Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) report citing a witness who claimed that the blaze was caused by supporters of a political party.
In a press conference organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research (Piler), Advocate Faisal Siddiqi said the controversy created over the JIT report had pushed the main issue of workers’ safety into the background.
Other speakers included Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Resarch (Piler) chief executive Karamat Ali and Asad Iqbal Butt of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
“While everyone is busy discussing the credibility of the JIT report and the alleged involvement of a political party, which was not even related to this case but another ongoing one, we still believe the owners of Ali Enterprises to be responsible for the deaths of more than 250 people and hope that the trial is concluded soon,” said Siddiqi.
Siddiqi clarified that the JIT report which was made public was not submitted by the Sindh Rangers on their own initiative.
Rather, he said, they had been ordered to do so by the Sindh High Court which had called for submission of all reports related to the Baldia factory fire case from all federal authorities and agencies.
He said that the cover letter of the JIT report explicitly stated that the it contained revelations of a Muhammad Rizwan Qureshi in a case (FIR no 61/2013) pertaining to the possession of illegal arms registered at the Artillery Maidan police station.
He said it was also important to note that the Rangers authorities had repeatedly requested the court to keep the report confidential and did not submit it in connection with the ongoing Baldia factory fire case (FIR No 343/2012) registered in Site-B police station.
Siddiqi pointed out that in the JIT report Muhammad Rizwan Qureshi made several confessions, only a paragraph in it was dedicated to the Baldia factory fire.
He said it was important to note that in his statements, Qureshi did not claim to be either responsible or to be a witness of the incident but repeated the information he had received from a fellow activist.
Piler chief Karamat Ali said till the veracity of Qureshi’s statements could be ascertained, the JIT report did not prove anything against anyone. It was said that three inquiries had been conducted into the Baldia fire tragedy, by a police committee, Federal Investigation Agency and another by a retired judge and in all of these the aspect of extortion was looked into but rejected.