Pakistan court sentences two MQM workers to death for 2012 factory fire

KARACHI: Two workers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement have been sentenced to death for the 2012 factory inferno that had claimed the lives of 259 people in one the country’s worst industrial tragedies.

After a long legal battle that took almost nine years to conclude, an ant-terrorism court finally announced its verdict, awarding death sentence to Rehman Bhola and Zubair alias Charya while acquitting Rauf Siddiqui, Dr Sattar, Ali Hassan Qadri, and Areeb Khanum.

The court said that there was a lack of evidence against the trio.

It further ruled that four watchmen who were posted outside the factory when the fire erupted should be arrested for negligence.

The factory, Ali Enterprises, is located on Hub River Road and belongs to Abdul Aziz Bhaila and his two sons, Rashid Aziz and Shahid Aziz.

Between 300 and 400 workers were inside the factory when the blaze erupted.

Officials said that all the exit doors in the factory were locked and many of the windows of the factory were covered with iron bars, which made it difficult for workers to escape at the time of the fire and consequently many of the deaths were caused by suffocation.

Baldia Town Factory owner had named MQM lawmakers, Ex governor sindh Ishrat ul Ibad and ex chief of CPLC Ahmed Chinoy.