Baldia Factory Fire: SHC dissatisfied over efforts to bring accused back

KARACHI: Sindh High Court on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over the efforts to bring Hammad Siddiqui and other accused of Baldia Factory Fire to country, ARY News reported.

The high court bench was hearing Baldia factory fire implementation case with regard to bringing proclaimed offender Hammad Siddiqui and other accused back to home to face the law.

Deadly factory fire in Karachi’s Baldia Town on September 11, 2012, had claimed lives of over 260 people.

The court ordered blocking passports and national identity cards of accused Hammad Siddiqui, Taqi Haider Shah and Khurram Nisar.

The bench summoned report from the NADRA and Secretary Foreign Affairs by October 02.

The court also issued show cause notice to foreign secretary for his failure to appear before the court despite repeated summons.

Federal Ministry of Interior in its reply to the court said that the federal government initiates process of issuing red notice on a request from provincial government. “The government had issued a red warrant for Hammad Siddiqui on the request of Sindh government on January 26, 2017,” interior ministry said in its reply. “The red warrant was expired after completion of five years,” ministry replied.

“The red warrant was extended by five years on September 1st, 2021, and it is still functional,” ministry replied. “A letter has been written to the UAE and other countries on September 16, 2023. Abu Dhabi government replied that Hammad Siddiqui has left the country in 2017,” interior ministry said.

“Steps are being taken for arrest of Hammad Siddiqui with the assistance of the Interpol,” it added.

Safety Measures

The high court bench comprises of Justice K.K. Agha also summoned progress report from the chief secretary of Sindh with regard to safety measures in factories and implementation of labour laws.

“Regretfully several factories are lacking firefighting equipment,” court observed.

“There are 4000 registered factories according to the labour department report. There are contradictory reports from the labour and industries departments,” chief secretary said.

“According to the K-electric report the power utility has given 32,000 industrial connections,” Sindh chief secretary said.

“It means most of the factories are unregistered. These industrial concerns should be registered forthwith,” Justice Agha said in his remarks. “The city’s factories should be inspected again and issued certificates. Secretary Labour will be responsible of any incident after issuance of certificate,” the court warned.

“It is responsibility of the state to monitor factories and provide protection to employees,” court observed.

“We have seriously tackled the matter, hoping the Sindh government will also treat it seriously,” the judge remarked.

The bench adjourned further hearing of the case until October 23.