page_title: 2012 Pakistan factory fires
section_title: Karachi
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Pakistan factory fires / Background / Karachi
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the city of Lahore, Pakistan, indicating major roads, railways &amp; airports.
context_page_description: Garment factories in the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore caught fire on 11 September 2012. The fires occurred in a textile factory in the western part of Karachi and in a shoe making factory in Lahore. The fires are considered to be the most deadly and worst industrial factory fires in Pakistan's history, killing 289 people and seriously injuring more than 600.
context_section_description: A private garment factory lit on fire and the flames ignited chemicals that were stored in the factory. The Baldia Town factory inferno case took a dramatic turn on Friday 7 Feb 2015 when a report by Rangers claimed that the MQM was behind the deadly fire that claimed the lives of at least 258 factory workers.
  The report prepared by a joint investigation team (JIT) was submitted to the Sindh High Court by an additional attorney general, along with a statement of the deputy assistant judge advocate general of Rangers, Major Ashfaque Ahmed.
  The statement said the information had been disclosed by suspect Mohammad Rizwan Qureshi, an alleged worker of the MQM, on June 22, 2013 during joint investigation of the factory inferno. According to the JIT report, the MQM worker revealed that a “well-known party high official” had demanded Rs200 million as Bhatta (extortion money) though his frontman from Ali Enterprises, the owners of the ill-fated factory, in Aug 2012.
  Between 300 and 400 workers were inside the factory when the blaze erupted. Officials said that all the exit doors in the factory were locked and many of the windows of the factory were covered with iron bars, which made it difficult for workers to escape at the time of the fire and consequently many of the deaths were caused by suffocation. Baldia Town Factory owner names MQM lawmakers, Ex governor sindh Ishrat ul Ibad and ex chief of CPLC Ahmed Chinoy. 
  Just weeks before the fire the plant had been given a SA8000 certification.
caption: Location of factory in Lahore.
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