KARACHI: As they have done every year since 2012, victims’ families and workers’ representatives gathered again to share their pain while marking the 13th anniversary of the Baldia factory fire tragedy on Thursday.

The gathering was of the view that the terrible incident, which saw 260 lives lost, had taught no lessons. They condemned the exploitation of workers which still goes on at workplaces, especially in garment factories. They lit candles and renewed their pledge to continue the struggle to make workplaces safer for workers and to resist the tyranny of capitalism.

Hasna Khatoon, chairperson of the Baldia Factory Fire Affectees Association, said that the factory building was demolished by the owners with the “blessing” of the government in order to “erase” the living symbol of the tragedy. “However, the most horrific event in the region’s industrial history would not be erased from workers’ consciousness. The tragedy and the blood of the martyrs would continue to inspire workers to fight for their rights until final victory,” she said.

Nasir Mansoor, secretary general of the National Trade Union Federation Pakistan, said that the tragedy was a reminder of the bitter truth that capitalists, whether local or international, value profits more than workers’ lives.

Families, workers’ bodies vow to continue struggle for justice

“The inhumane treatment and extremely unsafe working environment in factories remain a pressing issue to this day. Every year, thousands of workers are killed and injured at workplaces. Not a single day passes without an industrial accident,” he said.

He further said that national labour laws, international labour conventions, global protocols on labour and human rights, bilateral global framework agreements, as well as international and Pakistan accords, despite claiming to protect workers, have so far failed to improve working and living conditions for workers.

He strongly criticised the International Labour Organisation Pakistan office for “handing over” $6.1 million, paid by German brand KiK as long-term compensation for the victims’ families, to a private insurance company without consultation with the affectees’ association or workers’ representatives. He said that the ILO, displaying colonial arrogance, continued to deny sharing the agreement with the victims’ families and trade unions despite repeated demands, in a blatant violation of the ILO’s principles of transparency and consultation.

Mr Mansoor warned that if the ILO did not abandon its anti-worker stance, the families would set up a protest camp in front of the ILO head office in Islamabad.

Riaz Abbasi, head of the SITE Labour Forum, said that government institutions responsible for implementing labour laws had become “front men of employers”, “tasked with suppressing workers”. The right to unionisation has been snatched away. The Labour Department, Social Security Institute, Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), Workers Welfare Board and other institutions have become “paralysed”, serving as hubs of “corruption and mismanagement”.

Zehra Khan, general secretary of the Home-Based Women Workers Federation and co-chairperson of the IndustriALL Global Union-Textile Garments Sector, said that under the “guise” of the Sindh Labour Code, a “suicidal attack” had been carried out on workers’ rights.

“The PPP government, instead of upholding labour laws introduced by its martyred founder, Chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, is bent on imposing the exploitative contract system,” she said, adding that the “anti-worker conspiracy” carried out under the ILO’s guidance in the name of the Sindh Labour Code would be strongly resisted.

She further said that international brands sourcing textile and garment products from Pakistan were silent spectators to blatant labour rights violations in their supply chains, particularly union-busting and harassment of women workers.

She noted that in one factory in Karachi’s SITE area, workers attempting to form a union had been “threatened with murder on the instructions of the owners”. “Such incidents must be taken up urgently at both the local and international levels,” she said.

The gathering also put forward demands, which included an apology from KiK to the Baldia fire victims’ families and measures to ensure that labour law violations in its supply chain factories in Pakistan are stopped, a permanent memorial to be built in honour of the Baldia fire martyrs, and the establishment of an institution to raise awareness on health, safety and labour rights laws on the premises of Ali Enterprises.

Gul Rehman of the Workers Rights Movement, Shehzad Hussain Mughal from Alternate, Nadrat Buland Iqbal of Shehri Awami Mahaz and Mohammad Siddiq, general secretary of the Baldia Factory Fire Affectees Association, also spoke.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2025