Case of missing workers: MQM claims it rejected compensation offer
Party offered to accept financial compensation and withdraw cases in return
The MQM claims that 131 of its workers have been missing for years and the party and their families have not heard anything about them. PHOTO: PPI
KARACHI:
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - Pakistan rejected on Thursday what it claimed to be an offer by a commission, which is investigating the matter of its missing workers, to accept financial compensation and withdraw the cases.
Addressing a press conference at the MQM makeshift headquarters in PIB Colony, Khawaja Izharul Hasan said that the party and the heirs of the missing workers will not accept any offer made in exchange of taking back their cases with the judiciary. The MQM claims that 131 of its workers have been missing for years and the party and their families have not heard about them despite the fact that they have addressed the issue on various forums with the government, judiciary and security institutions.
“It is the government and state institutions’ responsibility to tell us where they are,” said Hasan, who is also the leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly. “Even if they have died or have been killed or have gone abroad.” He added that the 28 families, whose cases are pending with the inquiry commission on missing workers headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, were given a meagre financial aid some time back and were asked to forget their loved ones.
Twenty-one more families are submitting their cases with the commission as it will hear the matter on November 12, said Hasan, adding that whatever the case be, the party and families need an answer about the whereabouts of the missing workers.
A number of the families of missing workers accompanied the MQM leader as he addressed the press conference. The wife of missing worker Arif Hasan Nizami said that her six children ask her about the whereabouts of their father and question if he will ever come back home. She added that her husband has been missing for the past three years. Wife of Muhammad Ali also narrated a similar tale and urged the authorities to answer the families of the missing workers. An elderly woman, mother of Muhammad Saleh alias Mamoo, said that she once met her son when Rangers personnel brought him to their house for some search. That was the last time she ever saw him, she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2016.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - Pakistan rejected on Thursday what it claimed to be an offer by a commission, which is investigating the matter of its missing workers, to accept financial compensation and withdraw the cases.
Addressing a press conference at the MQM makeshift headquarters in PIB Colony, Khawaja Izharul Hasan said that the party and the heirs of the missing workers will not accept any offer made in exchange of taking back their cases with the judiciary. The MQM claims that 131 of its workers have been missing for years and the party and their families have not heard about them despite the fact that they have addressed the issue on various forums with the government, judiciary and security institutions.
“It is the government and state institutions’ responsibility to tell us where they are,” said Hasan, who is also the leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly. “Even if they have died or have been killed or have gone abroad.” He added that the 28 families, whose cases are pending with the inquiry commission on missing workers headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, were given a meagre financial aid some time back and were asked to forget their loved ones.
Twenty-one more families are submitting their cases with the commission as it will hear the matter on November 12, said Hasan, adding that whatever the case be, the party and families need an answer about the whereabouts of the missing workers.
A number of the families of missing workers accompanied the MQM leader as he addressed the press conference. The wife of missing worker Arif Hasan Nizami said that her six children ask her about the whereabouts of their father and question if he will ever come back home. She added that her husband has been missing for the past three years. Wife of Muhammad Ali also narrated a similar tale and urged the authorities to answer the families of the missing workers. An elderly woman, mother of Muhammad Saleh alias Mamoo, said that she once met her son when Rangers personnel brought him to their house for some search. That was the last time she ever saw him, she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2016.