Blast from the past: MQM-H chief arrested in a 10-year-old kidnapping case

Afaq Ahmed had not been nominated in the original FIR in 2001.

KARACHI: Chairman of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) Afaq Ahmed has been arrested again — this time in a kidnapping case that was registered ten years ago in 2001.

The move comes just one day after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced its decision to rejoin the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government at the provincial and federal level.

Earlier, Ahmed’s release from District Malir jail was withheld despite bail orders of the Sindh High Court on September 26. His detention continued under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) for one month.

The current case in which Ahmed has been arrested dates back to May 2001 and was registered at the Korangi police station. The complainant, Jamil Ahmed, had alleged that four members of the MQM-H – including Yunus Khan, Athar Khan, Shahzad Bihari and one unknown person – were involved in a kidnapping case. Ahmed had not been nominated in the original First Information Report (FIR).

Korangi Station House Officer (SHO) Farooq Satti appeared before the Anti Terrorism Court on Thursday and requested the revival of the case. The MQM-H chief was nominated as the other absconding accused in the case. Interestingly, the court had acquitted accused Yunus, Athar and Bihari citing lack of evidence in the case in an earlier decision. While Athar was killed later in 2006, Yunus and Bihari had joined the MQM.

Reaction

MQM-H’s spokesperson Khalid Naqashbandi called the move to nominate their chief in the case ‘a conspiracy.’

“How can you nominate anyone in a case in which you were never nominated to begin with?” he asked.

Naqashbandi said that the party would not resort to violence in reaction, but would continue to fight its battle through legal means.

Furthermore, the Sindh High Court heard the petition filed against the MPO detention of Ahmed. MQM-H lawyer Illyas Khan brought to the attention of the court that Ahmed had been nominated in a separate case.

The court, meanwhile, has asked for the record of the kidnapping case to be produced before it and announced that court hearing would resume on Friday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2011.