Baldia factory fire case: Two MQM workers file appeal in SHC

KARACHI: Two MQM workers convicted by an Anti Terrorism Court in the Baldia factory fire case filed an appeal against their death sentences in the Sindh High Court on Wednesday.

In the appeal, Zubair ‘Charya’ and Abdul Rahman 'Bhola' have laid the blame on the factory owners for the fire. They have alleged that the factory doors were closed when the fire broke out on the "orders of the owners". “There was no emergency exit for the workers [when the fire broke out],” the accused have said in the appeal. They added that the people perished in the fire due to the "negligence of the factory owners and related departments".

Both the MQM workers have maintained that in the initial report, the factory owners were held responsible for the fire, adding that the “real culprits” were acquitted in the joint investigation report. “The court did not scrutinise the evidence,” claimed Rahman and Zubair. They also alleged that no CCTV footage was included as evidence in the trial court and appealed that the verdict by the ATC be declared illegal. Last month, an ATC handed death sentences to Rahman and Zubair for their involvement in the deaths of over 260 labourers in the 2012 Baldia factory arson incident. MQM leader Rauf Siddiqui, who was accused of being involved in the incident, was, however, acquitted by the court for want of evidence, along with Umar Hasan Qadri, Dr Abdul Sattar Khan and Iqbal Adeeb Khanum. Four others — Shahrukh, Fazal Ahmed, Arshad Mehmood and Ali Mohammad — were handed life sentences for facilitating the crime. The highly-anticipated decision was announced eight years after the incident. One key suspect, the then in-charge of the MQM's Karachi Tanzimi Committee, Hammad Siddiqui, remains

absconding. The prosecution had argued in the case that he was the brains behind the extortion and the arson act.