KARACHI: The owners of the fateful Ali Enterprises garment factory have been given until November 26 to submit complete details of their property in court.
The Sindh High Court division bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqir issued this directive on Monday on an application filed on behalf of different non-governmental organisations.
The assets of the factory owners - Abdul Aziz Bhailla and his two sons Arshad and Shahid - were frozen following the tragic industrial blaze that claimed the lives of over 250 workers on September 11. Recently, the owners managed to obtain an order from a court through which they were allowed to use up to 20% of their assets.
However, they have still not filed the information of their assets despite high court orders issued on September 25. The petitioners’ lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, appealed to the court to call the details of properties owned by the Bhaila family.
Owners’ bail case
Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi issued notice to the Sindh prosecutor general among others on the bail plea filed by the factory owners Arshad and Shahid, whose lawyer, Amir Raza Naqvi, said his clients had been behind bars for a long time despite having no role in the alleged offence. He had appealed to the court to grant post-arrest bails to the applicants. After the preliminary hearing, the judge issued notices to the respondents to file their replies by November 22.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2012.
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Even though I have no idea if they are innocent or guilty but I will certainly like to say, they have been made a scapegoat by the media, courts, public, etc. They have been labeled guilty, assets frozen, bad mouthed, even before proven guilty. If they are in jail, assets frozen how in the world can they help themselves prove innocent or pay their legal and house bills and most importantly pay the concerned workers compensation. Yes the courts should put them on ECL, and request details of their assets but at least let them defend themselves. Again, I do not know if they are innocent or guilty but I have always heard the term INNOCENT until PROVEN GUILTY but in Pakistan it is opposite.