Imran Zakir
KARACHI: Karamat was a tireless champion for the oppressed, seeking compensation for the burned workers of the Baldia factory and advocating for the labor rights throughout his life stated by the Chairman of the Peoples Labor Bureau (Sindh), Habib ud Din Junedi.
Laminating the light on Veteran Labor Rights Activist, Karamat Ali Habib ud Din Junedi said that Karamat showed up everywhere, fully prepared and organized. He knocked on the doors of the Court and navigated international organizations with equal finesse. His relentless advocacy made him a full-time lawyer for the marginalized, always ready to fight their battles.
Civil Society organized an interactive session to discuss on 13 years of the Baldia Factory Fire “Lessons Learned & the Way forward “on Wednesday held at Karachi Press Club.
The Key note Speakers is the Former Chief Minister Sindh, Justice (Retd) Maqbool Baqar who stressed on the need to recognize the importance of Factory workers (Labors) role in industrial growth.
Retired Justice Maqbool Baqar, who presided over the landmark case, reflected on the conditions that led to the tragedy and said that; The factory was like a jail. There were no fire exits, no windows for ventilation. Not just factory owners but also government persons responsible for safety checks failed.
Zulfiqar Shah, who heads the Pakistan Accord on Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, provided an update on the initiative born from the Baldia fire and the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. Since January 2023, the Pakistan Accord has deployed 40 engineers to inspect factories, generated 900 reports, and trained 100,000 workers out of 600,000 in the textile and garment industry.
Faisal Siddiqui, the lead lawyer in the Baldia case, described the incident as large-scale murder caused by the system and factory owners. In the history of capitalism, no such large number of people were killed in a fire.
At the panelists and the Baldia Factory Victims’ families paid tribute to Karamat Ali, whose tireless advocacy secured compensation forVictims’ families.
