Five cops denied bail

MATLI: Five police officers held for the illegal detention of a political party worker were denied bail by the civil judge of Matli, Jahangir Bhayo.

The policemen moved their application to the sessions court. The Badin leader of the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz, Zahid Khwaja, was allegedly kidnapped and illegally detained for 20 days. Khwaja told the media that he had been tortured by the police for not submitting to the authority of the ‘ruling leadership in Badin’.

He was taken from his house on April 1 and then locked up at the Jacobabad police station. Khwaja accused the police of shifting him from one police station to another to hide his presence. “They wanted me to give up politics,” he said. “Some days before my release I was taken to some mountainous area in Thatta, where I was supposed to be shot,” he said. “But they did not do it and instead shifted me to an unknown place.” Khwaja said that he was released at the Matli Bypass Road late that night.

He alleged that Talhar SHO Badaruddin, ASI Mir Mohammad, Ibrahim Ahmadani, Abdur Rehman and Head Constable Anwer Gaho were involved in his arrest.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 26th, 2010.