KARACHI: The police and the Rangers failed to bring back to Pakistan the owners fleeing from the Baldia factory and the alleged intellectual author of the deadly fire that killed about 260 workers, although the trial entered its seventh year, the Wednesday.
More than 260 workers were burned alive in the multi-storey building of the Ali Enterprises clothing factory on September 11, 2012.
Seventeen charred bodies recovered from the burned industrial unit have not yet been identified.
ATC forced to decide a case within seven days
Nine defendants, including the legislator of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and then the provincial minister of commerce and industries Rauf Siddiqui, the then head of the MQM sector Abdul Rehman, aka Bhola; Zubair, aka Chariya, has been accused of allegedly burning the industrial unit with the help of his four guardians: Shahrukh, Fazal Ahmed, Arshad Mehmood and Ali Mohammad.
Read: Silence burns fire: the tragedy of Baldia
The prosecution alleged that they acted following the instructions of the then head of the Karachi Tanzeemi Committee of MQM, Hammad Siddiqui, since the owners of the factory did not pay Rs250 million of protection and association money in the business.
Businesses based in Hyderabad, Umar Hasan Qadri, Ali Hasan Qadri, Dr. Abdul Sattar Khan and Iqbal Adeeb Khanum have been reserved for allegedly using Rs50.9m allegedly extorted from factory owners under the pretext of indemnifying the victims.
The anti-terrorist judge of the court VII, who is carrying out the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, framed the charges of terrorism, extortion and fire caused in the accused persons on February 14, 2018. But they pleaded not guilty and chose to challenge the case.
"Currently, two defendants, Bhola and Chariya, are in jail," lawyer Sajid Mehboob Sheikh, a special prosecutor representing the Rangers, who became the prosecuting agency in the case after the terrorism charges, told Dawn, extortion and murder.
He added that seven other defendants, including Rauf Siddiqui, business people based in Hyderabad and the four guardians of Ali Enterprises, are on bail.
Judicial and prosecution sources said Hammad Siddiqui, the alleged intellectual author, and Ali Hasan Qadri had been declared criminals in the present case.
No follow-up to Hammad's arrest in Dubai
"Hammad is still out of the country," prosecutors explained, adding that media reports about his arrest in Dubai through Interpol "could not be confirmed" because the process to take him back to the country did not was initiated.
"Qadri went to the United States to receive cancer treatment after obtaining bail from the trial court and is said to be unable to travel due to his worse state of health," they added.
Initially, factory owner Abdul Aziz Bhaila and his two sons, Arshad Bhaila and Shahid Bhaila, a general manager and four guardians were charged by police for allegedly committing premeditated killings and "negligence" for workers' safety.
However, the case took a new turn in February 2015 when Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, presented a report from the joint investigation team (JIT) in the Sindh High Court (SHC), which revealed that the factory was burned after their owners will not pay & # 39; protection money & # 39 ;.
Subsequently, the new investigation of the case was ordered in March 2015 through a JIT. Meanwhile, the SHC ordered the ATC to expedite the trial and present a progress report at each hearing.
"Previously, the police had almost buried the case due to political demands," said the paramilitary force prosecutor, adding that the matter was being used as a political tool among the ruling political parties.
ATC forced to decide a case within seven days
An antiterrorist court is legally bound to decide a case within seven days after the accusation, in accordance with Section 19 (7) of the Anti-Terrorist Law.
However, after a long investigation, the police presented a complementary investigation report in August 2016 in which they only accused Hammad Siddiqui, Bhola and their three or four unknown accomplices and did not send the other 13 suspects, including those proposed. by JIT. , Of test.
But the court had put all the dismissed men on the list of defendants by observing that the owners / manager had ordered the doors closed, while others incited the crime in one way or another by extorting money on the pretext of distributing it. among the families of the victims. .
Later, the court recalled his order on the inclusion of the owners as defendants, as the prosecution said they were the key witnesses in the case.
The prosecution listed 768 witnesses on the supplementary charges sheet.
"Six witnesses, four doctors and two police officers, have died of natural death during this period," judicial and judicial sources told Dawn.
The remaining witnesses included more than 300 private persons, 259 legal heirs of the victims and 56 survivors.
The Rangers prosecutor said they delivered 364 witnesses who are "unnecessarily" listed in the present case.
"So far, the testimonies of 396 witnesses have been recorded," he said, adding that they included eyewitnesses, legal heirs, injured, chemical examiners and forensic experts.
The prosecution said that seven witnesses, factory owners Arshad Bhaila and Shahid Bhaila, three police investigation officers and two army chemistry and ballistics experts, should now be examined.
"We are preparing for the statements of the factory owners, Arshad Bhaila and Shahid Bhaila, to be recorded through the videoconferencing system of the consulate of Pakistan in Dubai, United Arab Emirates," said Prosecutor Mehboob, at the request of the court First instance last month. the federal government to ensure that the necessary arrangements were made in the office of the foreign mission in the Gulf state.
The Bhaila brothers with their father, Abdul Aziz Bhaila, were initially recruited and arrested in a case related to alleged premeditated killings and negligence towards the safety of workers in the workplace, etc.
In February 2013, the Sindh High Court granted them bail, as the IO recommended withdrawing the premeditated murder charge in the case. However, after obtaining bail after arrest, they fled the country citing alleged death threats. In 2015, a joint investigation team investigating the case met with them in Dubai and recorded their statements.
At the last hearing, the trial court postponed the recording of its testimonies through the video link after the defendant Rehman, aka Bhola, challenged that measure in the SHC, which has not yet ruled on the matter.
Posted on Dawn, September 12, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1504661/little-progress-as-baldia-factory-fire-case-enters-7th-year