ISLAMABAD: An investigation report into a 2012 fire at a factory in Pakistan’s teeming commercial capital of Karachi called the incident “planned sabotage” over owners refusing to pay extortion money and share profits with members of a powerful political party.
Fire ravaged a cramped textile factory in Karachi’s industrial suburb of Baldia Town in September 2012, killing 259 workers trapped behind locked doors. Officials called it Pakistan’s worst industrial accident, which came just hours after another fire at a shoe factory in the eastern city of Lahore killed at least 25.
“That factory fire was a ‘planned sabotage/terrorist activity’ and ‘not an accidental fire’ carried out due to refusal to pay extortion (Bhatta) of Rs.20 (Twenty) Crores and partnership in factory profits by factory owners to office bearers namely Rehman Bhola and Hammad Siddiqui of MQM-A,” the investigation report, made public on Monday, said, referring to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party of Altaf Hussain, Karachi’s most powerful and, until recently, untouchable political leader.
Initial investigations into the fire had determined that the death toll greatly increased because of illegal practices at the factory, reviving concerns about the regulation of Pakistan’s manufacturing sector, which is centered in Karachi.
But the investigation report by the joint investigation team has said it believed, unanimously, that the incident was not an accidental one, recommending that police file terrorism cases against Rehman Bhola, Hammad Siddiqui, Zubair Charia, Omer Hassan Qadri, Dr. Abdul Sattar, Ali Hassan Qadri, Iqbal Adeeb Khanum and four other unknown associates.
The MQM has not commented on the investigation report so far.
