THE acquittal of two accused in the Baldia Town factory fire case has left a wound that no court order can heal. Over 14 years, the case passed through every level of the justice system, and at every step, one accused or the other was either acquitted or freed. The law gives every accused the right to fair trial and that is not being questioned here. But, as things stand, all the accused have been found innocent in the eyes of the law, and nobody has fixed the responsibility for the death of 260 workers.

The factory owners were cleared. The political figures linked to the case were cleared. And now the last two convicted men have also been found not guilty. As such, a case that began as the deadliest industrial tragedy in Pakistan’s history has ended with no one having been found responsible. The victims were ordinary working men and women who had gone to earn their daily wages that morning, but found themselves locked inside a building on fire, and never returned home.

The said factory has since been rebuilt, business has resumed, and life has moved on for everyone except, of course, the families of the dead. Unfortunately, they have got no justice; not even a named killer.

Engr Kashif Nawaz
Thari Mirwah

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2026