Like a spectre, the Baldia factory fire of 2012, in which 260 workers perished, continues to haunt the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of Karachi. The case has been back in the news from the last week of October. In the most significant development, the Thai police and Interpol arrested a key suspect, the man who is alleged to be the mastermind of the fire: Abdul Rehman alias Bhola (innocent). He has been accused of attempting to extort Rs250 million from the factory’s owners and upon their refusal, of throwing a chemical onto the factory that led to the conflagration. He was said to be a member of the MQM and its Baldia sector in-charge at the time.
Rehman Bhola’s arrest and extradition will mean that he can be questioned here in Pakistan and be possibly presented before a court on December 19. (The other suspect who is on the run is Hammad Siddiqui, who ran the MQM’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee which once ruled Karachi.) The news of Bhola’s arrest led to a flurry of pronouncements on television. For starters, the party that was formed after its leaders broke away from the MQM, the Pak Sarzameen Party, denied any association with him.
Also in the news were the families of the victims who have reiterated their demand that the $5m in compensation be paid in full and not in instalments. This was preceded by a display of pyrotechnics of its own kind from former MQM men, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad and former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal, who eviscerated each other on television over the case.
Indeed, the party will never be able to live down the Rangers investigations linking it to extortion demands on the factory owners. This much is a matter of court record.
The case: the basic information
The Baldia factory fire was the worst in Pakistan’s industrial history as 259 people were killed in the inferno and about 600 others were injured. Although the MQM denies any involvement, it cannot escape damning statements from the owners of the factory, general manager and accountant, who all confirmed during questioning that it was a case of being caught in an extortion ring led by MQM activists.
On September 11, 2012, it was salary day so the factory’s staff of over 1,200 had lined up. At around 6pm a fire broke out. It started from the warehouse and grew to a raging inferno. FIR No 343/2012 was registered on behalf of the State by Baldia police station’s SHO against the factory owners, shareholders, factory administration and several departments (such as the Labour department and building control, Karachi Electric, social security, SITE, civil defence) who were all accused of negligence. On January 5, 2013, charges were levelled against Fazal Ahmed, Arshad Mehmood, Ali Muhammad, Shahid Bhaila, Arshad Bhaila, Abdul Aziz, Muhammad Mansoor, and an absconding HR manager Shahrukh.
Factory owners Abdul Aziz Bhaila, Arshad Bhaila and Shahid Bhaila got pre-arrest protective bail from the Sindh High Court Larkana bench but it was cancelled and they were sent to prison by an SHC bench in Karachi. (The owners are currently abroad and their fate has yet to be decided by an anti-terrorism court where the case is being heard. They have sought exemption from appearing.)
The lawyer for the factory owners, Aamir Raza Naqvi, told TFT that the Bhailas had given all information they had to the authorities at the Consulate General of Pakistan in Dubai of their free will, and without any coercion or duress. But neither he nor they would comment further on the case.
The turning point
The case took a turn when the Rangers questioned a suspect named Rizwan Qureshi who is believed to be an MQM worker (The party denies having links to him). He made a disclosure that prompted a deeper investigation through a Joint Investigation Team (JIT). JITs are traditionally considered sound in the sense that multiple agencies are involved. This one involved: DIG Sultan A Khawaja, DIG East Munir Shaikh, Col Sajjad Bashir of the Rangers, Altaf Hussain of the FIA, Muhammad Arif of the ISI, Lt Col Humayon Mujtaba of Military Intelligence, Muhammad Munir of the Intelligence Bureau, SSP East Syed Pir Muhammad Shah and SP SITE Sajid Amir Sadozai. It held 43 sessions, visited the scene six times and examined 39 witnesses.
The JIT noted that the “whole edifice of the investigation was built on the premise that the incident was an ‘accident’ caused due to a short circuit in the factory godown on the ground floor and the factory owners and their employees were responsible for not taking precautionary measures necessary to save the lives of workers”. The team questioned accountant Abdul Majeed and concluded from his eyewitness account that the fire erupted from one end of the warehouse and raged through. He said that he was instructed by the owners to switch off the electric mains. He also reported that he had felt a strange smell before the fire erupted and that its “heat was so intense that no one could stand at the entrance”.
The ‘volatile accelerator’ or chemical link was further investigated. The JIT found that a man named Zubair alias Chariya, a supporter of MQM-A, who ran the finishing department, came to the factory accompanied by a man named Waseem Dehelvi and four other men. According to accountant Muhammad Arshad, he saw Zubair handing out black shopping bags to the men he was with. Zubair was the first to toss one bag to the side of the warehouse and the rest followed course but threw their bags in different directions. Within five to ten seconds the fire erupted.
Extortion ring
The extortion angle was also investigated. According to the general manager, Mansoor Ahmed, the MQM’s Baldia sector wielded enormous influence over the factory’s affairs to the extent that no one could be hired or fired without its permission. He told the JIT investigators that the sector used to extort money from the factory in the name of Zakat and Fitrana and party donations. It had been paying about Rs1.5 million a month from 2004 onwards.
The extortion was so bad that owner Arshad Bhaila told the JIT that in early 2012, he and his brother Shahid Bhaila and Mansoor went to Bangladesh to explore the possibility of moving the factory there. Landhi was also considered.
Word leaked out. The sector incharge at the time, Majid Baig, told the owners that there was a new demand for Rs10m. This was raised to Rs350m in the name of Hammad Siddiqui, who ran the MQM-A’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee. Majid Baig took the owners to Nine Zero in an attempt to bring the demand down but a fight erupted. A few days later Rahman alias Bhola replaced Majid Baig as sector incharge in Baldia Town. A day prior to the fire, Rahman Bhola intercepted the owners as they were leaving the factory and had a conversation with them.
According to the JIT report, the owners later told their general manager that they were upset as Bhola has demanded Rs250m or a share in the business. Threats were issued.
As the case progressed other developments took place. Niamat Ali Randhawa advocate, a lawyer who appeared at five hearings, was killed in 2013. Then the Bhailas’ uncle, who was in the forefront of the case was abducted from SITE, kept for 70 days and released upon payment of ransom.
The compensation-Anis Qaimkhani link
Arshad Bhaila told the JIT that after the factory owners were released from Central Prison on bail, they were under extreme pressure from the MQM office bearers and thus “tried to reconcile and [seek] rapprochement with the MQM”. They approached a friend who took them to a man called Ali Qadri who said he was an associate of Anis Qaimkhani, who was then the deputy convener of the MQM Rabita Committee. (He has since joined the PSP with Mustafa Kamal).
According to the factory owners, they were asked to pay Rs250,000 per victim and Rs100,000 per injured person in advance. A total of Rs59.8m was transferred into an account (number 1010-0081-010815-01-6) titled Siddique Hassan Kadri maintained at Bank Al-Habib, Hyderabad. After the payment was made, the owners contacted Ali Qadri again. In their final conversation, he had said, “The amount is in the lion’s mouth” and if they insisted on getting their money back they would have to face the consequences.
The JIT found that this money ended up being used to buy property. A property dealer called Danish struck a deal between an M. Aslam Siddiqui, the owner of a 1,000 sq yard plot in Block C, Unit VI, Latifabad, Hyderabad, and a Ms Iqbal Adeeb Khanum. She told the JIT that while the property was in her name, its actual owner was an Umer Hassan Qadri, the younger brother of Siddique Hassan Qadri—into whose account the compensation money had been deposited. This compensation money never made it to the families.
Rehman Bhola’s arrest and extradition will mean that he can be questioned here in Pakistan and be possibly presented before a court on December 19. (The other suspect who is on the run is Hammad Siddiqui, who ran the MQM’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee which once ruled Karachi.) The news of Bhola’s arrest led to a flurry of pronouncements on television. For starters, the party that was formed after its leaders broke away from the MQM, the Pak Sarzameen Party, denied any association with him.
Also in the news were the families of the victims who have reiterated their demand that the $5m in compensation be paid in full and not in instalments. This was preceded by a display of pyrotechnics of its own kind from former MQM men, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad and former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal, who eviscerated each other on television over the case.
Indeed, the party will never be able to live down the Rangers investigations linking it to extortion demands on the factory owners. This much is a matter of court record.
The case: the basic information
The Baldia factory fire was the worst in Pakistan’s industrial history as 259 people were killed in the inferno and about 600 others were injured. Although the MQM denies any involvement, it cannot escape damning statements from the owners of the factory, general manager and accountant, who all confirmed during questioning that it was a case of being caught in an extortion ring led by MQM activists.
On September 11, 2012, it was salary day so the factory’s staff of over 1,200 had lined up. At around 6pm a fire broke out. It started from the warehouse and grew to a raging inferno. FIR No 343/2012 was registered on behalf of the State by Baldia police station’s SHO against the factory owners, shareholders, factory administration and several departments (such as the Labour department and building control, Karachi Electric, social security, SITE, civil defence) who were all accused of negligence. On January 5, 2013, charges were levelled against Fazal Ahmed, Arshad Mehmood, Ali Muhammad, Shahid Bhaila, Arshad Bhaila, Abdul Aziz, Muhammad Mansoor, and an absconding HR manager Shahrukh.
Factory owners Abdul Aziz Bhaila, Arshad Bhaila and Shahid Bhaila got pre-arrest protective bail from the Sindh High Court Larkana bench but it was cancelled and they were sent to prison by an SHC bench in Karachi. (The owners are currently abroad and their fate has yet to be decided by an anti-terrorism court where the case is being heard. They have sought exemption from appearing.)
The lawyer for the factory owners, Aamir Raza Naqvi, told TFT that the Bhailas had given all information they had to the authorities at the Consulate General of Pakistan in Dubai of their free will, and without any coercion or duress. But neither he nor they would comment further on the case.
The turning point
The case took a turn when the Rangers questioned a suspect named Rizwan Qureshi who is believed to be an MQM worker (The party denies having links to him). He made a disclosure that prompted a deeper investigation through a Joint Investigation Team (JIT). JITs are traditionally considered sound in the sense that multiple agencies are involved. This one involved: DIG Sultan A Khawaja, DIG East Munir Shaikh, Col Sajjad Bashir of the Rangers, Altaf Hussain of the FIA, Muhammad Arif of the ISI, Lt Col Humayon Mujtaba of Military Intelligence, Muhammad Munir of the Intelligence Bureau, SSP East Syed Pir Muhammad Shah and SP SITE Sajid Amir Sadozai. It held 43 sessions, visited the scene six times and examined 39 witnesses.
The JIT noted that the “whole edifice of the investigation was built on the premise that the incident was an ‘accident’ caused due to a short circuit in the factory godown on the ground floor and the factory owners and their employees were responsible for not taking precautionary measures necessary to save the lives of workers”. The team questioned accountant Abdul Majeed and concluded from his eyewitness account that the fire erupted from one end of the warehouse and raged through. He said that he was instructed by the owners to switch off the electric mains. He also reported that he had felt a strange smell before the fire erupted and that its “heat was so intense that no one could stand at the entrance”.
The ‘volatile accelerator’ or chemical link was further investigated. The JIT found that a man named Zubair alias Chariya, a supporter of MQM-A, who ran the finishing department, came to the factory accompanied by a man named Waseem Dehelvi and four other men. According to accountant Muhammad Arshad, he saw Zubair handing out black shopping bags to the men he was with. Zubair was the first to toss one bag to the side of the warehouse and the rest followed course but threw their bags in different directions. Within five to ten seconds the fire erupted.
Extortion ring
The extortion angle was also investigated. According to the general manager, Mansoor Ahmed, the MQM’s Baldia sector wielded enormous influence over the factory’s affairs to the extent that no one could be hired or fired without its permission. He told the JIT investigators that the sector used to extort money from the factory in the name of Zakat and Fitrana and party donations. It had been paying about Rs1.5 million a month from 2004 onwards.
The extortion was so bad that owner Arshad Bhaila told the JIT that in early 2012, he and his brother Shahid Bhaila and Mansoor went to Bangladesh to explore the possibility of moving the factory there. Landhi was also considered.
Word leaked out. The sector incharge at the time, Majid Baig, told the owners that there was a new demand for Rs10m. This was raised to Rs350m in the name of Hammad Siddiqui, who ran the MQM-A’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee. Majid Baig took the owners to Nine Zero in an attempt to bring the demand down but a fight erupted. A few days later Rahman alias Bhola replaced Majid Baig as sector incharge in Baldia Town. A day prior to the fire, Rahman Bhola intercepted the owners as they were leaving the factory and had a conversation with them.
According to the JIT report, the owners later told their general manager that they were upset as Bhola has demanded Rs250m or a share in the business. Threats were issued.
As the case progressed other developments took place. Niamat Ali Randhawa advocate, a lawyer who appeared at five hearings, was killed in 2013. Then the Bhailas’ uncle, who was in the forefront of the case was abducted from SITE, kept for 70 days and released upon payment of ransom.
The compensation-Anis Qaimkhani link
Arshad Bhaila told the JIT that after the factory owners were released from Central Prison on bail, they were under extreme pressure from the MQM office bearers and thus “tried to reconcile and [seek] rapprochement with the MQM”. They approached a friend who took them to a man called Ali Qadri who said he was an associate of Anis Qaimkhani, who was then the deputy convener of the MQM Rabita Committee. (He has since joined the PSP with Mustafa Kamal).
According to the factory owners, they were asked to pay Rs250,000 per victim and Rs100,000 per injured person in advance. A total of Rs59.8m was transferred into an account (number 1010-0081-010815-01-6) titled Siddique Hassan Kadri maintained at Bank Al-Habib, Hyderabad. After the payment was made, the owners contacted Ali Qadri again. In their final conversation, he had said, “The amount is in the lion’s mouth” and if they insisted on getting their money back they would have to face the consequences.
The JIT found that this money ended up being used to buy property. A property dealer called Danish struck a deal between an M. Aslam Siddiqui, the owner of a 1,000 sq yard plot in Block C, Unit VI, Latifabad, Hyderabad, and a Ms Iqbal Adeeb Khanum. She told the JIT that while the property was in her name, its actual owner was an Umer Hassan Qadri, the younger brother of Siddique Hassan Qadri—into whose account the compensation money had been deposited. This compensation money never made it to the families.