What if it were the PM's son

[Mirza Ghalib]

‘What if it were the PM’s son?’
By Rabia Ali
Published: January 25, 2013



“If it had been the prime minister’s son instead of mine, would he have spared the owners?” asked Mohammad Sharif as tears gushed down his face.

Sharif’s eldest son, Hanif, who had a speech and hearing impairment, was among the hundreds of victims who died muted deaths as flames licked the top floor of the factory.

Hanif, 21, worked as a machine operator at Ali Enterprises and despite the disability, was working to contribute to his household with aims to build a roof over his almost mud-plastered house in Ittehad Town.

“My son had small wishes. He wanted to construct rooms and get married,” said the white-bearded Sharif as he choked back his grief on a charpoy (bed) borrowed from a neighbour. The family of nine had been cramming into a single room for the past 25 years. But, Hanif was going to change that; his savings were dedicated to changing the conditions his family lived in.

As the family deals with the loss of Hanif, the news of the murder charges being dropped only adds to their woes. “If the owners are set free, we will lodge murder cases individually. Then we will see how they escape,” said Bashir, Hanif’s uncle.

Shahida Parveen, who dwells with her three children in front of Sharif’s house, was left a widow by the Baldia Town fire.

“I spend every night cursing the owners and weeping. Why didn’t the owners die in the fire? Why was it only the poor?” she said.

Shahida’s husband, Akmal worked as a supervisor at the stitching floor. The family lost their sole breadwinner with Akmal’s death.

“Only God knows how I am living. I don’t have money to buy milk for my children.”

“My father is alive because when people die they go to the graveyard, and my father is not in the graveyard,” said Akmal’s eldest son as Shahida’s eyes well up with tears. The family has yet to receive Akmal’s body, despite providing DNA samples on three different occasions, Shahida explained.

Behind the burnt factory, Imran, who lost his brother Javed and sister-in-law Samina, has taken up to two jobs to look after three children left behind by the deceased. Like Sharif and Shahida’s family, he has yet to receive his brother’s and Samina’s body.

“Every day there is an atmosphere of mourning in the house. And if those responsible for locking the doors, and keeping the people behind grilled windows escape, then how will we face our loved ones on the day of judgement,”he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2013.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/498749/what ... e-pms-son/

[Mirza Ghalib]

Baldia factory fire case: Treasury bench protests dropping of murder charges on PM’s orders

336*280



ISLAMABAD:
A fuming Raza Rabbani led a walkout from the Senate on Wednesday in protest against the prime minister’s directives to drop the murder charges against the owners of a factory in Karachi, where a fire last year caused the deaths of over 200 people.

On a point of order, Senator Rabbani from the Pakistan Peoples Party expressed deep concern over reports that section 302 had been scrapped from the FIR lodged against the owners of the Baldia Town factory, where 289 workers burnt to death on September 11, 2012.

On Wednesday, in a meeting with the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had assured the business community that the murder charges against the factory owners would be dropped. This was confirmed by Minister of State for Finance Saleem Mandviwalla.

During the Upper House session, Rabbani claimed that five out of six exits of the factory had been closed off when the fire broke out and the main gate was also shut soon after.

He added that he was “shocked to hear that section 302 is being scrapped against the factory owners on the directives of the PPP prime minister”.

“The PPP is a party for the poor and labour class; it is the responsibility of the party to protect their rights,” he said.

The senator said that they had come to know that some ‘guest political actors’ had recently persuaded the prime minister to remove section 302 and had changed the investigation officer of the case as well.

“There is a double standard. When labourers went on strike for their rights in KESC, they were booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATC),” he said. “Not a single person died [in that strike], but when 280 workers were burnt to death due to the criminal negligence of an industrialist, section 302 is removed?” He felt that this should not be done by the PPP at least. “If the case is in a court of law then let the law take its course,” he added, before walking out of the house, followed by Awami National Party senators.

Leader of the House in the Senate Jahangir Badar said, however, that neither did the prime minister give any directives to remove the charges nor was it in his authority to do so. Only the chief minister was authorised to issue such directions but he did not have any information to this effect. Opposition leader Ishaq Dar echoed Rabbani’s concern and sought a detailed report into the issue from the leader of the house, which Badar assured would be presented in the Senate on Monday.

For his part, former law minister Maula Bux Chandio clarified that Section 302 had not been removed yet but that the demand had been made by the business community on the grounds that it was not applicable as there was no intention to murder.

http://www.zemnews.com/2013/01/24/baldi ... ms-orders/

[Mirza Ghalib]

I say this guy Raja Rental is a real menace to the future of Pakistan. Hope we get rid of him soon. Otherwise we'll live to rue the day we ever allowed him into positions of power. He's a good match for the "president" who chose him.

[resurrected]