[Current Affairs] September 23,2020 Top Pakistan Current Affairs for PPSC Test Preparation

What’s going on? An Anti-Terrorism Court sentenced two former members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to death after finding them guilty of arson. In 2012, they reportedly started a fire that killed 264 people, and injured several others. The men who received death sentences are Abdul Rehman (a.k.a Bhola), and his associate, Zubair Charya. Bhola admitted asking Charya to set the factory on fire after receiving orders from a more senior MQM figure, who police are still looking for. The court also gave four factory guards life imprisonment for being complicit in the crime.

The details: The fire started at the Ali Enterprises garment factory in Baldia town, Karachi on September 11, 2012. Around 500 workers were inside the factory when the fire started. Survivors said stacks of finished garments blocked doorways and stairs. Survivors also claimed the building’s doors were locked. There were no fire exits.

Tell me more: The factory owners, Arshad and Shahid Bhaila, were initially arrested, but then released on bail. Afterwards, they moved abroad. Four other people were also acquitted, including MQM leader Rauf Siddiqui, who was provincial minister for industries at the time.

The context: At first, the factory fire in Baldia was considered an accident. Later on, investigators discovered that official members of the city’s powerful MQM political group were trying to extort money from the factory. The factory owners were told they would receive “protection” if they paid PKR 200 million.

Remind me, what is MQM? The MQM party dominated politics in Karachi for three decades. In 2013, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) govt launched a major operation in Karachi to improve the law and order situation. This crackdown largely targeted MQM. MQM’s influence decreased over time due to controversies and internal rifts. In 2016, the party split into two factions: MQM-London led by Altaf Hussain (i.e. MQM’s original founder) and MQM-Pakistan (i.e. MQM-P).

The bottom line: The Baldia factory fire is reportedly Pakistan’s worst industrial disaster. Investigators called the fire incident “an act of organized terrorism.” Relatives of the victims feel justice still hasn’t been fully served, since the factory owners were not held responsible for the people who died. According to the relatives, the owners should have known better and closed the factory after getting extortion threats from MQM.

MARKET RECAP

The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 41,828.91 after dropping 345.23 points (-0.82%) as of September 22, 2020.