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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday described the Baldia Town factory fire as one of the most tragic, painful and heart-rending disasters in Pakistan’s history, in which 260 workers lost their lives and around 60 others suffered burn injuries.
“The victims were ordinary workers who had entered the factory to earn their livelihood, but many of them never came out alive,” Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan observed in the detailed 39-page judgement.
The verdict explained why a three-member SC bench had overturned the convictions of two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers, Abdul Rehman alias Bhola and Zubair alias Chariya, on June 10 in connection with the 2012 fire at the garment factory in Karachi’s Baldia area.
The bench, also comprising Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi and Justice Shakeel Ahmad, set aside the death sentences awarded by an anti-terrorism court on charges of murder, extortion, arson and terrorism.
