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THREAD: Laurent Gayer, a French writer, debunks the #BaldiaFactory JIT
Some of this is going to be excerpts from the chapter while at other places I will just write a gist of what he meant.
Some of this is going to be excerpts from the chapter while at other places I will just write a gist of what he meant.
'Initially, doubts persisted over the exact origin of the fire due to lack of resources of investigators which they themselves admitted but later Rangers succeeded in orienting the trial against MQM on the back of confessions an alleged hitman.'
Initial investigation conducted by FIA and local police came to the conclusion that short circuit was the most probable cause of fire specially as the factory was consuming 318kW of electricity against permission of 210kW only. But exact cause of fire could not be ascertained.
Of the 3000 worker working, only 200 were registered with EOBI and 268 with SESSI. Sindh Labor department told that the factory was not even registered with it. They were flouting all the labor laws and were involved in labor exploitation using third party form of recruitment.
'The statements of workers who survived the blaze suggested that emergency exits were often locked from outside and that fire extinguishers were not in working order, even though a fire had already broken out in the warehouse of the same factory a few months earlier.'
'Both the police Investigation Officer (IO) and the FIA emphasized that three of the four gates of the ill-fated building were closed permanently, mainly to prevent pilfering, while the few CCTV cameras installed in the building that were in operating order were oriented..
...towards the surveillance of the workers rather than towards the mitigation of safety hazards.'
'All in all, what early investigative reports revealed was a production process relying upon systematic breaches of the law. This is made explicit in the Alavi tribunal report.'
'All in all, what early investigative reports revealed was a production process relying upon systematic breaches of the law. This is made explicit in the Alavi tribunal report.'
FIA and Alavi tribunal blamed city infrastructure for late arrival of fire brigade while owners claimed they arrived 1 hour after the complaint. However, TV footages showed fire brigade arriving under half an hour after lyari fire station was informed, against owners’ claim
Things which seriously hampered the investigation, according to tribunal were too many agencies jumping on to investigate leading to tampering of evidence and the lack of expertise of Sindh police and fire brigade.
Gayer writes, ‘However critical it may seem of the powers that be, the Alavi tribunal report did not come as a threat to political or economic elites.’
'According to Faisal Siddiqui, legal counsel for civil society organizations acting on behalf of the victims, the Alavi tribunal report was consistent with the past record of its chairman. By ‘dividing the anger all over the place’ and introducing contradictory evidence...
..regarding the responsibilities of the owners – in particular by questioning the assumption that most of the exits of the factory had been closed at the behest of the management – he helped them obtain bail and paved the way for their gradual exoneration of all charges.'
'The reluctance of investigative agencies to pronounce a clear verdict on the cause of the fire provided an opportunity for the military to divert the judicial process and turn the whole exercise into a political trial.'
'And now enters Rizwan Qureshi, on whose claim the whole JIT is based. He was arrested in 2013 and had allegedly confessed to dozens of murders and kidnappings. However, the JIT report was only presented in court on 6 February 2015.'
In the backdrop, operation was going on in Karachi and the role of military and Rangers in Karachi and its politics had massively increased.
Gayer also writes how Rangers act in cohorts with industrialists and frequently intimidate labor activists and workers trying to organize themselves.
Gayer terms JIT report 'a key part of the political offensive which aimed to downsize MQM. While pervious investigations had ruled out the possibility of foul play, the JIT report laid the blame for the fire squarely at the door of the MQM and its extortionists.'
The whole confession of Rizwan Qureshi is merely based on what he allegedly heard from fellow party workers.
On the basis of Rizwan’s confessions, a new JIT was constituted which had representatives from MI, ISI, Police, FIA and SP SITE was tasked to investigate. Who, under great pressure from authorities, concluded that this type of fire cannot be caused by electric short circuit
Btw, previous JIT reports stated the extortion money demanded at 200 million rupees while the new JIT slated it at 250 million rupees, increasing it by 50 million rupees.
The report claimed that Bhola and his men set fire ‘to the godown [warehouse] and several other places’ – a claim which contradicted all previous investigations
'The evidence put forward was circumstantial at best and mainly relied upon testimonies from an accountant at Ali Enterprises who claimed that the fire had engulfed the whole building within minutes, despite the efforts of the workers and the owners to extinguish it. '
'The value of this testimony was itself questionable, especially as earlier investigations had revealed that the owners had in fact fled the site after the fire broke out.'
Workers who earlier attested to the claim that owners fled the scene, later changed their statements after being pressurized.
The report by Punjab forensic science agency concluded without hesitation that it was a case of arson however their report was not made public.
Gayer observed that the members of the JIT did not really care about the weakness of their case, however. They knew that their version of the story coincided with the dominant interpretation of the events in public opinion.
Interestingly
Everyone bought the conclusions of new JIT report and this is exactly what owners had claimed since the beginning. Basically, interest of owners (and of their supporters among Karachi’s business community) clearly converged with those of the state security apparatus.
Hence, new investigation team was appointed while the owners (who had left the country) as well as some factory employees had initially been charged with murder and criminal negligence, this time they were exonerated of all charges and were made to appear as prosecution witnesses
'Initially an ATC judge refused to accept the charges however later he backed out after presumed arsonist Rehman Bhola was arrested by Interpol in Bangkok and extradited to Pakistan, where he allegedly confessed to having set the factory on fire – yet another ‘revelation’
...paving the way for the indictment of the MQM and the exoneration of the Bhailas.'
Interestingly, Gayer goes on to say that the delay in trial was because of dissension within the security apparatus. While Rangers wanted a quick trial, ISI would delay it, seeking to exonerate Hammad Siddiqui. Hammad Siddiqui was apparently instrumental in creation of PSP.
Number of witnesses who had earlier claimed that doors were locked from outside retraced their statement later in favor of the owners. Earlier accounts indicated that owners fled however later it was stated in JIT that owners stayed and asked people to leave instantly.
Gangs of lyari also make appearance after they apparently tried to threaten the families to dissuade them from going to the court.
'The support extended to the Bhailas by the ‘industrialists’ lobby’, or what is identified as such by Faisal Siddiqui, also explains why the owners of Ali Enterprises managed to go free despite all investigations pointing unequivocally at their having been involved in the ...
...worst industrial accident in Pakistan’s history.'
KCCI even termed Bhailas ‘wrongly accused’ and said that implication of Bhailas was misuse of state power. They appealed to PM Raja Pervez Ashraf and later charge sheet against owners was withdrawn.
Owners who were at first the perpetrators later became the complainants in the same case.
