DG Rangers forms investigation committee; officials
alleged to be responsible suspended
In an unprecedented development, chief of army staff (COAS) has ordered an inquiry into the death of a senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker in the custody of the paramilitary Rangers on Tuesday.
Aftab Ahmed Hussain, coordinator for senior MQM leader Farooq Sattar, died two days after he was picked up by the paramilitary force in a raid at his residence in Karachi. While the Rangers attributed his death to cardiac arrest, the MQM claimed Aftab was tortured and demanded an investigation.
“The COAS has directed to hold an inquiry to find out truth in the case of Aftab Ahmed, who died in Karachi yesterday [Tuesday],” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a brief statement on Wednesday. “He [Gen Raheel] instructed to ensure that justice must be done.”
In Karachi, the director general (DG) Sindh Rangers, Maj Gen Bilal Akbar, formed a committee to probe the MQM worker’s death, said a spokesman for the paramilitary force. The committee, headed by a Rangers sector commander, would soon prepare and make public its report.
“Rangers troops alleged to have been involved in Aftab Hussain’s death have also been suspended,” the spokesman said but did not reveal their numbers and ranks.
An MQM delegation, comprising Farooq Sattar, Nasreen Jalil and Kunwar Naveed, also met Karachi Corps Commander Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar on Wednesday to discuss Aftab’s death, according to news reports. Some news reports suggested the same delegation also called upon the Rangers DG, although the MQM did not confirm any such meeting.
In a statement issued the day Aftab died, the Rangers spokesman said the MQM worker complained of chest pain prior to his death and attributed it to cardiac arrest. The MQM, however, claimed that Aftab was tortured to death by Rangers officials. Photographs and videos which went viral on social media also purportedly showed Aftab’s body bearing torture marks.
To protest Aftab’s alleged torture, the MQM staged demonstrations in several neighbourhoods of Karachi, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas on Wednesday. Party workers called for meting out ‘exemplary’ punishment to those responsible for Aftab’s death.
“He was [supposed to be] detained for 90 days. This is what they [the Rangers] did on the first day,” said one protester at a demonstration held at Karachi’s Numaish Chowrangi. The Rangers on Monday obtained the anti-terrorism court’s permission to keep Aftab in preventive custody for 90 days.
Speaking at the Numaish Chowrangi protest, MQM leader and likely mayor of Karachi Waseem Akhtar said: “Such brutal activities taint the work of law-enforcement agencies.”
Terming the army chief’s orders for inquiry ‘a pleasant gesture’, he hoped the punishment meted out to those responsible would not just be confined to administrative action. Regarding an FIR, Akhtar said the MQM and Aftab’s family would decide when to lodge a criminal case.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2016.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ