Burnt offerings

Four years on, justice for the victims of Pakistan’s most deadly fire has not been delivered. Compensation has not been forthcoming for the families of the 250 Baldia Town factory victims while the case to fix the responsibility continues to be dragged along. Last week, one of the accused named by a Joint Investigation Team in the alleged arson case was released on interim bail by a court. Meanwhile the conversation about unsafe working conditions is non-existent. The same is the case with most compensation promises made to the families of the victims. It is shocking to see the families of the victims still protesting on the streets, a number of years after the fire, for various authorities to fulfil their compensation promises. Just last week, protesters claimed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had not delivered on a promised grant of Rs300,000 per family made in the aftermath of the factory fire.

Much politics has been played around the Baldia Town tragedy. All major political parties expressed solidarity with the fire victims and all of them did so to score political points. None of these parties initiated any campaign or move to make the lives of factory workers any safer, nor did they push for justice or compensation. Each victim’s family has only received around Rs1 million each. Major compensation, such as that from German discount cloth retailer KiK of around 30,000 euros per family, is still awaited. The German retailer claims that it was arson and not working conditions behind the loss of life. Indeed those behind the incident should be punished but it we must not be forgotten that it was the unsafe and inhuman working conditions that added immeasurably to the toll and helped the arsonists. Both federal and provincial governments must fulfil the promises made to the victim’s families. A mechanism must be ensured to resolve the other grievances of the families. Most of all, there is a need to ensure safe working conditions for workers.