Baldia tragedy: Witness identifies Zubair Chariya in court

KARACHI (92 News) – Progress was made in the Baldia tragedy case when the key witness, who went into hiding due to threats to his life, identified Zubair Chariya on Tuesday. The witness, while recording his statement, disclosed that Zubair Chariya used to receive drugs in the factory. He said that he would identify other accused when they would be brought before him. He said that Zubair Chariya had thrown bags in the godown before him and repeated the same act at the second floor. He said that Chariya began to smile when the factory caught fire. Later, the case was adjourned till tomorrow. The court also issued a notice to judicial magistrate. The accused’s counsel completed cross-examination of the witness’ statement. The families of 250 people are still waiting for the justice but the case has not reached its conclusion. The hearing of Baldia factory fire case is pending but no perpetrators to be punished. The families, who lost their love ones in fire, felt more pain after exposing in 2015 that the factory fire was a planned sabotage activity and not an accidental fire. As per the report submitted by rangers in 2015, the act was carried out over refusal to pay extortion of Rs200 million and partnership in factory profits by factory owners to office-bearers Rehman Bhola and Hammad Siddiqui. The case took critical juncture when accused Abdur Rehman Bhola was arrested from Bankok. Bhola was arrested from Bangkok, Thailand, by the Interpol in December 2016. The lawyers said that the justice was being delayed due to the slow pace of investigation in the incident. September 11, 2012 was an ill-fated day for more than 250 workers of Ali Enterprises' factory where a fire erupted and 260 people burned to their death subsequently. Initially attempts were made to divert attention away from the case when it was claimed that the fire was caused as a result of an accident. However, a joint investigation team (JIT) revealed that the fire was a case of arson.