Blaze wakes Pakistan to industrial realities

Another dystopia going down the drain

By Syed Fazl-e-Haider

KARACHI - The deaths of 289 people in a fire at a garments factory on September 11 in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi is the country's worst industrial disaster and biggest human tragedy in the country's industrial hub. (blaze-hit-karachi-garment)

On the same day, at least 25 people lost their lives in a similar fire at a shoe-making factory in Lahore, in Punjab province. The two fires laid open in brutal fashion the extent of violations of Pakistan's Factory Act 1934 and the country's inadequate labor laws, rampant corruption, and criminal negligence regarding safety standards and monitoring authorities. 

Not least, the incidents expose the racket of official regulation and inspection under which the number of illegal industrial units in Karachi has grown. Factories with no proper fire-fighting arrangements and safety equipment and non-implementation of safety standards have become killing chambers for workers and money-making machines for owners who pay kickbacks to corrupt authorities responsible for monitoring factory safety. 
Karachi, the country's commercial capital, with a population of 18 million, shut down in mourning on Thursday in the aftermath of the factory fire there. The city took on an eerie silence, with public transport suspended and factories and markets closed and thin attendance at offices. 

Ali Enterprises garment factory, where ready-to-wear clothing was manufactured for export, is in the Baldia town area of Karachi. A Dawn editorial called the fire there "the country's worst industrial disaster ... ]to be] seared in memory as the Pakistani worker's 9/11"...

Factories in Pakistan are kingdoms unto themselves. They are concentration camps where workers are denied their basic rights enshrined in the constitution, in the country's labor laws and in international conventions. Even a proper appointment letter is more often than not a favor, and not a rule, and those who are not employed as per the regulations have no claim to privileges, not even compensation in accident cases. Trade unions are a luxury which can hurt the owners' interests. The government promises to reinvigorate them but is either too meek or too overwhelmed by petty profits to even try and implement the existing law. The presence of unions could have ensured better working conditions - more fire exits at least - for those lost forever in the industrial holes in Karachi and Lahore.

The victims of the Karachi disaster were mostly the poor factory workers including many women employees. Locked emergency exit doors meant they could not find a way of escaping the blaze. 

The Express Tribune commented,

In the case of Pakistan, one has to say - and clear proof of it comes from these two tragedies - that structures have more or less no fire safety equipment. The factory in question had no fire exits and - according to officials at the scene - windows had grills so workers couldn't escape. All of this is capped by an unsettling attitude or mindset, if you will, in general, where many among us feel that fire safety issues are things best left for those who live in developed countries and that if a fire were to happen in our midst, that would more or less be part of fate's plan.

Government authorities and industry owners have been least concerned about workers' problems and troubles they face while at work in factories. A rising unemployment rate, which has hit 18%, and surging poverty levels force poor workers to work under miserable conditions without claiming their rights under the law. 

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has not ruled out the possibility of an extortionist mafia hand behind the Karachi factory tragedy. There have been previous incidents in Karachi of factories being set on fire after their owners refused to pay extortion money to gangs. 

The country's financial hub is virtually ruled by land, drug and extortionist mafias. Wary of these groups, industrialists and businessmen have been demanding the government call in the army, as the situation has gone out of the control of civilian authorities. 

The ability of the economy to emerge from stagflation - high inflation and low growth - is severely impeded when industrialists and businessmen, who provide employment to millions of people, feel their lives and businesses insecure and vulnerable due to the deepening trend of lawlessness. At the same time, costs of doing business are consistently rising with higher borrowing costs and a worsening energy shortages. The business community is left with Hobson's choice - either shut down or shift their businesses abroad. 

In one telling statistic, exports of apparel from Pakistan in the last 10 years has increased from US$1.5 billion to only $3.5 billion, whereas exports from Bangladesh have surged from $1.5 billion to $12.5 billion. 

The growing power crisis is one key reason prompting industrialists to consider setting up units in other countries. In view of the comparatively 35% cheaper electricity and 30% higher profit margins in Bangladesh, many industrialists have already moved their factories their or expanding their existing presence. A mass exodus of the Pakistan's textile manufacturing base would render jobless millions more people currently employed by the sector. Improving the safety standards and working conditions of the existing workers would, of course, merely add to business costs.