Call for strike: MQM to mourn killing of workers today

Haider Abbas Rizvi holds Peoples Amn Committee responsible.

KARACHI:

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has called for a day of mourning across the province today (Thursday) after three of its workers were kidnapped and killed by unidentified men. The party has requested the traders and transporters to suspend their activities and express solidarity with them.

Four MQM activists were reportedly kidnapped from Malir while on the way to their factory in Korangi Industrial Area on Wednesday morning. According to details, unidentified men intercepted their bus and took away Muhammad Farhan, 30, Mehtab, 26, Muhammad Tauseef, 24, and 23-year old Farhan Idrees. Later, bodies of three of them were found with their hands and legs tied up. The victims were shot multiple times in the head and neck.

“They blindfolded us and took us to an undisclosed location in a hi-roof,” Farhan Idrees, who survived the attack, told The Express Tribune from his hospital bed. “They made us sit on the floor and started firing. Maybe they thought that all of us were dead when they left.”

DIG East Tahir Naveed said that the investigation was in its initial stages and the incident will be looked at from all angles.

Blaming PAC

Speaking at a press conference, member of the Rabita Committee Haider Abbas Rizvi lashed out against the Sindh government and accused it of giving a free hand to criminals belonging to Lyari to kill his party men. “Instead of going to the Quaid’s Mazar after taking oath, the Sindh chief minister visited the Lyari gangsters. What does this mean?” questioned Rizvi, adding that the government was not taking action against those involved in the killings.

Rizvi held the Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) responsible for the whole episode and said that their Malir group, headed by Sohail Dada, was behind the abduction and the subsequent killings. “The Amn Committee wants to wipe us out from Karachi but we will not allow this to happen.”

Rizvi also pointed out that the law enforcement agencies were also targeting the MQM and had initiated no such operation against the criminals. He called for raids at PAC hideouts and torture cells and compensation for the affected families.  He said that eight party workers had gone missing in the last two months and asked the new prime minister Nawaz Sharif should take notice of the abduction and killings of the MQM members.

Protest outside CM House

A sit-in was held outside the Chief Minister House by the MQM against the killing of its party members. MQM leaders Amir Khan, Khawaja Izharul Hasan and Faisal Subzwari were present among the protesters who brought the bodies of the three men with them.

The barricades erected by the law enforcement agencies could not prevent the protesters from reaching the CM House where they chanted slogans against the Rangers, police and the PAC and demanded registration of an FIR against Sohail Dada.

“If our demands are not met, there will be mourning in Karachi for an indefinite period,” Hasan warned the government in his address to the protestors.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Sabzwari said that a silent operation was being conducted against the MQM and Urdu speaking people. He also questioned why the CM changed his views about the PAC and dined with them.

Sindh information minister Sharjeel Memon tried to negotiate with the protesters by assuring them that a case would be registered against the culprits but the protest only ended after the deceased were laid to rest. Leaders of MQM warned that the protest would be held again if those responsible were not arrested by the soyem.

Protests by MQM were also held in Tando Allahyar, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas.

Schools to remain closed today

The associations of private schools have unanimously announced to keep all schools closed on Thursday (today) in view of the uncertain security situation.

The decision was announced following the appeal by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to observe a day of mourning across the province after the murder of three of its supporters. Private Schools Management Association chairperson, Sharfuz Zaman, and All Private Schools Management Association head, Syed Khalid Shah, said in separate statement s that the decision to keep the schools closed was taken for the sake of students’ safety.

Meanwhile, the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) and the Board of Technical Education Karachi have postponed the exams scheduled for the day, according to their respective examinations controllers.

The BIEK chairperson, Anwar Ahmed Zai, said that the postponed intermediate Part-I exams of English (normal) and English (advanced) will now be held on June 7. The Cambridge International Examinations board had not issued any statement about its exams being postponed until late night.

Notice issued to federal, provincial authorities

The Sindh High Court issued notices to the federal and provincial governments and their subordinate law enforcing agencies on Wednesday over the alleged illegal detention of nine workers belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

The deputy attorney general and provincial advocate general have also been put on notice to file their comments by June 14.

On Tuesday, the MQM had gone to the court against alleged unlawful detention of its workers.

The petitioner’s lawyer said that the police and Rangers personnel had picked up nine workers, who had been missing since April.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2013.