Supplementary charge sheet accepted
Karachi
The administrative judge of anti-terrorism courts transferred the Baldia factory fire case to the ATC-II on Monday for regular hearing.
The judge also accepted the supplementary charge sheet that had made it clear that the ill-fated factory was set on fire by miscreants who were refused payment of extortion money.
Investigation Officer SP Sajid Sadozai filed the supplementary charge sheet and special public prosecutor Sajid Mehboob assisted the court in underlining the facts of the case. It was alleged that the factory was burnt on the orders of Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s suspended Karachi Tanzeemi Committee chief Hammad Siddiqui.
The owners of the factory were told to hand over Rs250 million, but they had agreed to pay Rs10 million.
The charge sheet was prepared in the light of the fresh report of a joint investigation team’s reports that suggested that the trial of the accused under the provisions dealing with the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 and other relevant laws.
It was further alleged that the extortionists had also demanded for a permanent share in the ownership of the factory.
The incident of the biggest industrial tragedy to ever have occurred in the county wherein around 259 workers perished in the fire was termed a “planned terrorist activity” and not an accident in a supplementary charge-sheet.
The additional district and sessions judge (West) had transferred the case on August 27 to the administrative judge of the ATCs, observing that it was a case fit to be tried by an ATC and not by a regular court as the charge sheet was read with the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
The fresh charge sheet reads that the fire at the Ali Enterprises, a garments factory in Baldia Town, was set on fire by miscreants belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement over non-payment of extortion.
Nominated in the Baldia Town factory fire case as co-accused, the owners and a few employees of the ill-fated Ali Enterprises were instead included in the case as witnesses after the police after a thorough investigation had declared them innocent.
The court concerned was also informed and it endorsed the plea to take the owners as witnesses and not co-accused in the matter as they were found innocent.
According to the special public prosecutor, name of another MQM activist, Zubair alias Zubair Charia, was also deleted as the investigators could not find any proof of his involvement. Hammad Siddiqui and Rahman alias Bhola were declared absconders. The charge sheet has mentioned 58 people as prosecution witnesses.
The charge sheet claimed that the accused had demanded around Rs250 million from the factory owners as “protection money”. Some senior leaders of the MQM had tried to divert the direction of the incident and created confusion to save the real culprits. It further alleged that the accused had also demanded a share in the factory. The factory owners had agreed to pay Rs10m. Later a Ali Hassan Qadri, a close aide to Anis Qaimkhani, had received over Rs50 million from the owners to settle the dispute and to compensate the victims. The victims, however were never compensated by accused Ali Hassan Qadri, it was added.
Six accused including the MQM’s suspended KTC chief Hammad Siddiqui along with the party’s Baldia Town sector in-charge at the time, Abdul Rehman Bhola, were declared absconders in the case. The charge sheet has mentioned as 50 witnesses on behalf of the prosecution for recording their statements.
