Pakistan’s deadliest industrial fire, which killed more than 260 garment factory workers in 2012, was a case of arson and not an accident, a court ruled on Tuesday as it sentenced two former political party activists to death for starting it.
The anti-terrorism court found that the men set the factory ablaze because the owners did not give in to their extortion demands and pay them money.
The fire at Ali Enterprise, a multi-story unit for readymade garment manufacturing in the southern city of Karachi, sent shockwaves through the country as survivors told of people trapped and killed behind locked factory doors.
The two men given the death sentence, Rehman Bhola and Zubair Chariya, were both activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), which is a partner in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s coalition government. The current MQM leadership denies any involvement with the fire.
