MQM workers given death penalty for role in Baldia factory fire

KARACHI: Two MQM workers have been sentenced to death for their involvement in the Baldia factory fire at Ali Enterprise while four workers have been sentenced to life in prison.

Abdul Rehman and Zubair known by their alias Bhola and Charya respectively have both been given death penalty over their invovlement in the Baldia factory fire while Sharukh, Fazal Ahmed, Arshad Mehmood and Ali Mohammad have been given life in prison for facilitating the crime which resulted in 263 deaths.

However, other MQM workers which include Abdul Sattar Rauf Siddiqui, Adeeb Khanum and Ali Hasan Qadri have been acquitted by an anti-terrorism court for lack of evidence.

The Baldia factory fire incident took place in September 2012 and claimed over 260 lives in what came to be known as the deadliest industrial blaze in the history of Pakistan

According to the investigation that following the tragic incident, the factory was set ablaze ude to non payment of Rs. 250 million in extortion money (bhatta) to MQM at the time.

Abdul Rehman aka Bhola had admitted to his involvement in setting fire to the Ali Enterprise factory to intimidate the owners for payment of extortion money on the orders of an MQM leader but did not anticipate the loss the lives.

There have been a total of 186 hearings held regarding the matter and hundreds of witnesses have given testimonies including factory owners via video link from Dubai who testified to MQM demanding Rs. 250 million in extortion money.

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