Baldia | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the convictions of two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers — Abdul Rehman alias Bhola and Zubair alias Chariya — for their alleged involvement in the deadly 2012 Baldia factory fire in Karachi. Over 260 workers, including 16 who could not be identified, were burnt alive when the multi-storey Ali Enterprises garment factory was set on fire in Baldia Town on Sept 11, 2012, in what became the deadliest industrial blaze in Pakistan’s history. On Wednesday, a three-judge SC bench, headed by Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed and including Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi and Justice Shakeel Ahmad, set aside the death sentences awarded to the two accused by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on charges of murder, extortion, arson and terrorism, granting them the benefit of the doubt. Abdul Rehman alias Bhola, a former sector in-charge in the party’s organisational structure, and Zubair alias Chariya were sentenced to death in September 2020 for allegedly setting the multi-store...