Daily Times

Labour and human rights activists on Wednesday appreciated the efforts of Justice (retd) Rahmat Hussain Jafery, who headed the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) commission for distribution of compensation to families of Baldia factory fire victims.

A delegation of rights activists met with the former judge of the Supreme Court (SC) at his residence in Clifton and handed him a ‘thank you’ shield in recognition of his services to the victim’s families. A function to distribute the appreciation shields and awards to key personalities, activists and journalists was held on September 9, 2018 but Justice (retd) Rahmat Hussain Jafery was out of country so his shield was not handed over on the occasion.

The rights activists lauded the procedure Justice (retd) Jafery adopted by the judge for judicious distribution of the amount provided by the German buyer of Ali Enterprises, Government of Sindh and private sector donors for immediate relief to the victims families.

German company KIK, under a memorandum of understating (MoU) with the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) had provided $ 1 million (m) for immediate relief to victims families. PILER had requested the SHC to form a judicial commission for the swift and fair distribution of that amount. As a result, a commission led by Justice (retd) Rahmat Hussain Jaffery, was formed to determine legal heirs of the fire affectees. Later, the amount was successfully distributed by the SHC.

The labour leaders said that the commission had set precedence by preparing a distribution formula which was now being followed by other countries as well. Justice (retd) Rahmat Jafery said that the human rights organisations also provided all out support to the SHC commission during the process.

The chairperson of Fire Affectees Association, Saeeda Khatoon handed over the shield to the commission head. Saeeda Khatoon informed Justice (retd) Jafery that some victims’ families who were non-Pakistanis (Bengalis) had received compensation cheques from the court but they were unable to cash them because they did not have bank accounts owing to non-availability of computerised identity cards. The Judge said the SHC Commission for distribution of compensation to the victims in no more functional, but the affected families could approach the court for solution of that problem.

PILER chief executive Karamat Ali, Nasir Mansoor from National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) vice chairman Asad Iqbal Butt, Ms Zehra Khan from Home-based Workers Federation, Qazi Khizar from HRCP, Shujauddin Qureshi from PILER, Ms. Husna and Jameel were also present on the occasion.

Published in Daily Times, October 19^th 2018.