Rangers DG says Aug 22 riot was pre-planned

Six MQM activists involved in the rioting have been arrested and would be given into police custody


Our Correspondent August 30, 2016
Maj Gen Bilal Akbar. PHOTO: ONLINE

KARACHI: The August 22 rioting by Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists was not impulsive or spontaneous it was rather pre-planned, the paramilitary Rangers said on Monday.

MQM workers went on a rampage, clashing with police, torching and stoning vehicles and ransacking a media house, after a telephone speech of their party chief Altaf Hussain from London. “The Muttahida founder incited his supporters to violence under a plan,” Director General Sindh Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar told journalists while sharing the findings of an inquiry into the August 22 mayhem.

He added that half a dozen MQM activists involved in the rioting have been arrested and would be given into police custody for further investigation. “We have rounded up six suspects involved in the rioting, including a bank officer, on charges of sheltering the rioters on August 22,” Maj Gen Bilal added. “We have also identified armed protesters and those who brought batons there.”

The Rangers chief explained that two bank officers had sheltered an unknown number of activists in a branch near where the MQM had set up a hunger strike camp. “The MQM labour division members working in two banks near Karachi Press Club gathered boys from different areas of the city [at the bank] for the attack on the media houses,” he said, adding that the paramilitary force had arrested one of these bankers identified as Javed, who is affiliated with MQM’s labour division, while the other is on the run.

Maj Gen Bilal said MQM’s sector and unit in-charges had played a key role in the rioting while disclosing that the six suspects in their custody were being handed over to police.

The police, meanwhile, have asked authorities to form a joint investigation team to probe the August 22 riots. “We have written to the authorities concerned to constitute a JIT to interrogate the suspects arrested so far,” investigating officer Inspector Adeel Chandio confirmed to The Express Tribune.

“The suspects arrested by police so far include 41 men and three women,” he said, adding that they were other than the six in the Rangers custody.

The JIT is likely to include representatives of different intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau.

Chandio said all the suspects would be presented before an anti-terrorism court today (Tuesday).

The suspects include three senior MQM leaders — Kanwar Naveed Jamil, Shahid Pasha and Qamar Mansoor.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2016.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ