75 Baldia factory fire victims were charred beyond recognition: forensic reports

Police submitted forensic reports about the Baldia factory fire incident to an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday, stating that the blaze was so intense that 75 out of the 259 dead bodies were charred beyond recognition.

The death toll in the fire incident rose to 260 after a girl who was injured in the fire along with a few dozen others succumbed to her injuries in December 2016. Seventeen of the bodies buried in Edhi graveyard still await identification.

According to the prosecution, the Ali Enterprises garments factory in Baldia Town was set on fire on September 11, 2012, by some men belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement after the factory owners refused to pay them an extortion amount of up to Rs250 million.

On Wednesday, Inspector Jahanzaib, a former investigation officer of the case, recorded his statement before the ATC-7 judge. He said that the samples of 75 dead bodies were sent to the laboratory for their DNA tests and of them 17 were still not traced.

He also presented the forensic reports of the incident in the court. Initially, the fire incident was deemed as an outcome of a short circuit at the factory; however, later in February 2015, the arson factor was pointed out over the disclosures of an alleged target killer, Rizwan Qureshi.

The court heard the IO at length and adjourned the hearing till October 1 to continue to record the same statement. Only Abdul Rehman alias Bhola, who was then joint incharge of the MQM’s Baldia Town sector, and Zubair alias Charya, a party worker, are in judicial custody, while the rest of the accused, including former minister for commerce and industries Rauf Siddiqui, have secured bail.

The then MQM’s Karachi Tanzimi Committee head, Hammad Siddiqui, who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the arson attack, is still absconding. According to the prosecution, he ordered his men to set ablaze the factory to teach the owners a lesson for their refusal to pay the extortion money.

On a previous hearing, Arshad Bhaila, an owner and director of the factory, had testified through a video link from the Pakistan Embassy in Dubai that then Sindh governor Ishratul Ibad and Citizens-Police Liaison Committee chief Ahmed Chinoy had threatened him to stay tightlipped over the incident.

He said that Chinoy delivered him a message from the Governor House that he should deposit Rs500,000 in the name of each of the fire victims with the MQM if he wanted to get away from being prosecuted in the case. He said that he paid around Rs60 million to the MQM but the amount never reached the victims. Police had initially named more than 700 witnesses in the case. Of these, half have been dropped.