KARACHI - Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) convener Dr Farooq Sattar has demanded strict action against those involved in the Baldia Town factory fire.
Sattar’s statement comes in the wake of accused Rehman Bhola’s confessional statement in which he has linked former MQM representatives to the factory fire.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s temporary headquarters in PIB Colony, Sattar rejected Bhola`s statement and said that efforts were being made to implicate MQM-Pakistan leader Rauf Siddiqui in the factory fire case. He called for a reinvestigation into the incident on modern scientific lines so that people could know the truth.
MQM-P leader Rauf Siddiqui, Faisal Sabzwari, Ameenul Haq, Zakir Qureshi, Adil Khan and others were also present on the occasion.
Sattar said that his party always expressed its grief over the loss of precious lives in the fire, which broke out on September 11, 2011, but it was unfortunate that conspiracies were being hatched against the MQM and efforts were being made to implicate its leaders in the deadly incident. If it is proved that any party member at the sector or organisation level is involved, there should be no leniency for him, he said. He said that so far five investigation teams had been formed and none of them had named MQM leader Rauf Siddiqui in this case. He said the MQM-P leadership condemned the attempts to implicate Rauf Siddiqui in the factory fire case.
Speaking on the occasion, Rauf Siddiqui rejected Rehman Bhola’s statement and said that after the incident he mounted pressure on the police to register an FIR against the factory owners and sought compensation for victims. He refuted Bhola’s remarks that those behind the fire incident had demanded extortion money from factory owners.
He said that he had nothing to do with the factory ever. “I don’t even know the names of the factory owners,” said Rauf, adding that the people naming him in the fire incident were in fact main culprits in that case.
To a question, Siddiqui said that he was ready to face any investigation and demanded reinvestigation into the incident on modern scientific lines.
