Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Tuesday demanded the constitution of a judicial commission to probe Baldia factory fire case, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a press conference at Pakistan House in Karachi along with members of the Rabita Committee, he regretted that verdict in the case in which two party workers were handed down death sentence was pronounced after 12 years. “Hundreds of people had lost their lives in the incident,” he recalled.

He said those who were martyred and those who survived the incident were also the MQM-P workers. “We will go to any lengths to get justice for our workers, including the ones who were convicted in the case,” he vowed.

He said that for the party’s leadership, its workers were innocent. “In fact, these were the factory owners who were to blame for the fire,” he opined.

Upholding the decision of an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the Baldia factory fire case, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had yesterday (Monday) rejected the appeals filed by two activists of the MQM-P against their death sentences.

The ATC had sentenced MQM activists Abdul Rehman and Zubair to death on charges of murder, extortion, arson and terrorism, which the two had appealed in the province's top court.

The appeals were heard by a two-member division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, who had reserved judgment in the case on August 29.

Moreover, the SHC also rejected the government's appeal against the acquittal of four others namely MQM leader Rauf Siddiqui, Umar Hasan Qadri, Dr Abdul Sattar Khan and Iqbal Adeeb Khanum for want of evidence.

As many as 260 workers had died at a garment factory in Baldia Town Karachi around 11 years back.

 

Reporter: Shoaib Mukhtar