The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) has announced three days of mourning on the tragic deaths of more than 200 workers due to a raging fire in a factory located at Baldia Town in Karachi.
The decision was taken in a joint meeting of the Co-ordination Committee in London and Pakistan. The meeting termed the horrific incident as a national tragedy and decided to suspend all organizational activities of the MQM in order to concentrate entirely on the relief activities.
The meeting also decided that gatherings of party workers would be held to offer fateha and recitation of the Holy Quran sessions in Karachi and in Lahore for the victims of the Baldia Town. It was also decided that black arm bands would be worn by the party workers and black flags would be waved at all party offices.
The Co-ordination Committee also decided that the Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation (KKF) of the MQM would make arrangements for transporting the mortal remains of the workers to their ancestral places in the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Balochistan, and Interior Sindh including Karachi.
Furthermore, the Co-ordination Committee had directed the office-bearers and workers of the MQM to take part in the funerals of the unfortunate factory workers and urged them to share the grief and sorrow of the mourning families.
The committee had also appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad, and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah to announce compensation for the grief-stricken families who lost their loved-ones in the blazing inferno.
Moreover, the committee had demanded a high level inquiry of the incident and said that stern action should be taken against the people responsible for the horrific deaths of the workers including the owners of the factory. The committee also expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of lives in Lahore when fire broke out in a factory. In addition, it demanded from the Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Ahmed Khosa and Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to hold an inquiry into the incident and to announce compensation for the affected people.
