Bodies of two political workers found in Ghagar Phatak

Party holds press conference, blames police officials for targeting workers.

KARACHI:

The bodies of two activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were found from Ghagar Phatak near National Highway on Tuesday.

Residents informed the police about the bodies which had been dumped in the bushes. The victims were identified as Sanaullah and Mansoor Ahmed - senior activists of the MQM's Shah Faisal sector and Safoora sector, respectively. They were kidnapped from Gulistan-e-Jauhar and then tortured to death, said the police. The bodies were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Death squad

The MQM has claimed that during the ongoing targeted operation, some biased police officials have set up a death squad to target their party workers.

The MQM's Rabita Committee held a press conference on Tuesday soon after the bodies of the two workers were found near National Highway. Addressing the briefing at the Khursheed Begum Secretariat, party leader Haider Abbas Rizvi lashed out. "A 'death squad' under official patronage has been formed by police officials involved in the ongoing operation," he said. "The death squad's aim is to target party workers and get rid of them."

Rizvi said that their party wanted stability in Karachi and that is the reason why they have supported the operation. "Men in plain, white clothes are picking up our activists and taking them to unknown locations, where they are tortured and later their bodies are dumped outside Karachi."

Rizvi urged the prime minister and the chief justice to take notice of the illegal detention and the torture of their party workers. "We have reiterated our demand that if our men are arrested, they should be produced in courts," he said.

Earlier, MQM chief Altaf Hussain urged the government to trace the culprits responsible for the killings of the party activists.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2014.