Pakistan’s Premier Intervenes in Fire Inquiry
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Version 0 of 1. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, already targeted by the country’s interventionist Supreme Court, has become embroiled in a new judicial controversy, this time over the investigation into a garment factory fire that killed at least 259 people in Karachi last year. According to Pakistani news media reports, Mr. Ashraf urged that murder charges be dropped against the factory owners, Arshad and Shahid Bhaila, brothers who have been in jail since September and face trial in the coming weeks. Initial investigations determined that the death toll had been greatly increased because of illegal and unsafe practices at the factory, including the chaining of emergency exits. Almost immediately, labor groups and senior politicians reacted with anger to the reports about Mr. Ashraf’s intervention. The governor of Sindh Province, Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, publicly opposed the move, describing it as an insult to the relatives of those killed in the fire, which was one of the deadliest in the history of the country’s apparel industry. Still, the furor raised questions about why the prime minister would embroil himself in such a delicate case, particularly at a time when the Supreme Court is seeking to have him arrested in relation to a separate corruption case. Last week, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ordered anticorruption authorities to arrest Mr. Ashraf over accusations that he had received kickbacks for a lucrative government power plant deal. The anticorruption body said this week that it lacked enough evidence to prosecute Mr. Ashraf. But the Supreme Court, which has been a dogged adversary of the government and removed Mr. Ashraf’s predecessor from office last year, has continued to apply pressure. Mr. Ashraf intervened in the factory fire case on Dec. 29 when, in an address to Karachi business leaders, he recommended that the main murder charge against the Bhaila brothers — one that carries a potential death sentence — be withdrawn. Two weeks later, a senior police official applied with the court to have the charge dropped. Although the matter is not final — the final decision on charges in the case will be made by a trial court on Feb. 2, lawyers on both sides agreed — critics said that Mr. Ashraf’s actions would have a clear effect on the case. “When the head of the country makes a statement like this, the bureaucracy knows what to do,” said Faisal Siddiqui, a lawyer for a labor rights group representing the fire victims. “There’s a chain of events. Only a blind wouldn’t see that see that it’s linked to the P.M.’s statement.” The Bhaila brothers, who have been refused bail, strenuously denied any connection to the statement. “We are not seeking help from any executive authority, be it the prime minister or anyone else,” their lawyer, Amer Naqvi, said by phone. “We are seeking justice from the courts of law, in which we believe and have every trust.” Four months after the blaze, others matters also remain unresolved. Samantha Maher of the Clean Clothes Campaign, a Western group campaigning for safer and more ethical factory conditions, said the remains of 23 people who died in the blaze at the Ali Enterprises factory still remain unaccounted for in a Karachi morgue. “It’s a horrible process,” she said, “and the government really needs to sort it out.” <NYT_AUTHOR_ID> <p>Zia ur-Rehman contributed reporting from Karachi, Pakistan. |