Baldia tragedy stems from a lack of occupational safety and health: Piler official

KARACHI: The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) organised a seminar on occupational safety and health (OSH) at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday, ahead of the 14th anniversary of the Baldia factory fire. Around 260 workers were killed in a blaze at Ali Enterprises garments factory in Baldia Town on 11 September 2012. PILER executive director Abbas Haider said the Baldia tragedy stemmed from a lack of occupational safety and health (OSH), but the case went through many seasons, including political ones, and the main culprits were eventually acquitted, denying justice to the victims. Citing a PILER research, he said workers and the working class were among the biggest victims of climate change, and their plight was worsened by power outages that subjected them to hardship and contributed to a rise in domestic violence and workplace accidents. He said the Sindh government had promised OSH councils and committees in factories but failed to deliver, and the Pakistan Accord too had produced no significant results. All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation vice chairman and The News Union general secretary Dara Zafar said the situation today was unchanged, not only in factories but also in offices, and that both workers and employers needed to be made aware of OSH. He said trade unions were weak in the country and that organisations like PILER were helping them grow to build a proper labour structure. Karachi Union of Journalists president Tahir Hasan Khan said no lessons had been learnt from the Baldia fire, which was why the city continued to witness disasters such as the Gul Plaza and PIMS fires. He noted that the Baldia movement had led to the making of a law in the European Union. He urged PILER, trade unions and civil society to join hands and lobby for a legal framework, warning that nothing would change otherwise. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) vice chairperson Qazi Khizer said Ali Enterprises had been a “jail for workers, ” with windows and gates grilled and locked. He held the factory owners and the state responsible for the tragedy, saying the state had failed in its duty to protect its people. He said the courts had failed to deliver justice and did not assign responsibility to the labour department or others tasked with worker safety. Former labour department joint director Gulfam Nabi Memon said the real tragedy was that “we only open our eyes after an incident occurs, ” describing Baldia as the worst industrial disaster in the country’s history. He said that after the fire the Sindh government enacted the Sindh Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2015 which places responsibility on both employers and workers to prevent workplace hazards and stay safe from them. Trade unionist Rehana Yasmeen said the Baldia incident had left a stark reminder on people’s hearts, recalling that immediate rescue was unavailable and that workers jumped from the second floor to save their lives. Senior trade unionist and People’s Labour Bureau leader Habibudin Junaidi said no lessons had been learnt from the country’s many tragedies, but workers must still remember and learn from them. He paid tribute to Karamat Ali for founding PILER and for his central role in securing compensation for the workers. Describing trade unions as the “nursery of democracy, ” he lamented that they had been strangled to the brink of extinction and demanded the revival of student unions. The moot demanded that all industrial units be inspected for safety, fire exits and extinguishing systems, and that factory owners and government implement OSH laws. Noting that data on fire incidents was unavailable, it called for a database to be created, workers to be trained, OSH councils to be established, and 11 September to be observed as OSH Day in Pakistan. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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