An anti-terrorism court was expected to announce its verdict in the Baldia factory fire case on Thursday but delayed the announcement till September 22. The hearing was held at the judicial complex inside Karachi Central Jail. Three Hyderabad-based businessmen, Ali Hassan Qadri, Iqbal Adeeb and and Dr Abdul Sattar Khan, filed a petition to delay the verdict. They have been accused of receiving Rs50 million from the factory owners on pretext of compensation for the victims. They were indicted on February 14, 2018 but pleaded not guilty. The suspects said on Thursday that they want time to prove that they received Rs50 million from the factory owners and presented records from the Sindh finance department. They said that had business dealings with the Bhaila brothers because of which the money was transferred to them.Two-hundred-and-fifty-nine workers were burnt alive in a factory in Karachi’s Baldia Town on September 11, 2012. The factory, Ali Enterprises, is located on Hub River Road and belongs to Abdul Aziz Bhaila and his two sons, Rashid Aziz and Shahid Aziz. German discount clothing retailer KiK (Kunde ist König, which in English translates into ‘Customer is King’) was the factory’s main customer. The verdict was reserved on September 2 after the prosecution and defence concluded their arguments in the case. The father of Muhammad Kamran, who was among the victims of the fire, said, “We have been waiting for this verdict for eight years and hope that it will be just.” Another victim Muhammad Jameel’s father said, “We came to know through TV that there has been a fire at the factory. When we went there, there was a huge crowd outside the factory. I got my son’s body after three days.”
