KARACHI   -  After nine years since 260 alive humans were burnt to death in the Baldia factory fire, the pursuit of justice languishes as the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday took to task the state prosecution for not filing appeals on the big fish of suspects escaping scot-free from the trial courts. How the bigwigs in this high profile case were simply let go, SHC judge Justice K K Agha reprimanded state, asking why the state did not file any appeals on the trial court against acquittal of Rauf Siddiqui and others from his camaraderie.

It seems as if the state itself were involved in trying to safeguard these big fish, the SHC judge said. As if the motive is to help real culprit escape, he noted.

There will be legal repercussions for those not filing appeals on the influential people and prime suspects freeing from the trial courts, judge said.

He inquired why there were no proceedings against them by the prosecution. Baldia inferno convict Bhola’s close aide arrested in Karachi raid in the last development; earlier this year, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have arrested a suspected terrorist said to be associated with MQM-London.

Yaseen alias Batak alias Daada was arrested by CTD personnel with the help of intelligence agencies during a raid in the port city’s Azizabad neighbourhood. He is a close aide of Abdul Rehman aka Bhola, a MQM worker convicted in the Baldia factory inferno case.

The arrested accused has remained involved in targeted killings of policemen and other heinous crimes.

Upon questioning, he revealed that he conducted recce of policemen Arif and Akbar on the instructions of Rehman aka Bhola in 1998, after which Shakil Sapna group shot dead both the cops.

In October, two MQM workers, Zubair aka Chariya and Abdul Rehman aka Bhola, moved appeals in the SHC challenging their conviction in the high-profile Baldia factory fire case.

The two convicts, who were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on September 22, filed the appeals through their lawyers, requesting the high court to strike down their conviction.

The appellants stated in their pleas that the ATC ignored key evidence while deciding the case.

On September 22, the ATC had convicted Bhola and Chariya on eleven counts, handing each of them death sentences on two counts, life sentences on four counts, 10-year prison term on two counts as well as imprisonment of seven, three and two years on three counts.