SHC says police’s reply on missing MQM men is ‘evasive’

Law enforcers say they have not detained the people named by the petitioner.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) declared on Tuesday the police’s response regarding the disappearances of eight Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers as ‘evasive’ and summoned the Additional IG for legal affairs on July 3.

The party, through its leader, Dr Farooq Sattar, had taken the federal interior ministry, Sindh home secretary, Inspector General of Police, the Director General of Rangers and other officials to court over alleged enforced disappearances of its workers.

Sattar stated in his plea that many of the party’s activists had recently been picked up by law enforcers from different parts of Karachi. At least nine of the party’s activists, including Faheem Riaz, Farooq Ahmed, Zeeshan Gul, Usman Ahmed, Saeed, Aftab Alam, Asif Khan, Arshad and Ayaz Hussain, are being detained unlawfully, claimed the MQM leader. He added that the places where the men are being detained have yet to be disclosed.



The MQM leader said that law enforcers might coerce the detained men into making false statements during interrogation. He pleaded the court to direct the law enforcers to present the missing men in court along with any records of cases against them.

On Tuesday, the provincial law officer said letters had been sent to the chiefs of police and Rangers, asking them to thoroughly check whether the people named by the petitioner were detained or arrested by any of their units.

Police officials responded by saying they hadn’t arrested or detained any of the men. The law enforcers, did, however, inform the court that FIRs regarding disappearance of Fahim Riaz, Zeeshan Ali, Usman Ali and Muhammad Saeed had been registered at the Korangi Industrial Area, Brigade and Landhi police stations. Efforts are being made to rescue the missing men, assured the officials.

But the petitioner’s lawyer, Nawab Mirza, claimed that one of the men, Muhammad Asif Khan, had been murdered and his body had been found within the jurisdiction of the Steel Town police station. He claimed that the lives of the other detained men could be in imminent danger.

“Comments have been filed by the respondents, who seem to be evasive,” noted Justice Ahmed Ali M. Sheikh, who headed the bench. The bench directed the Additional IG for legal affairs to appear on July 3 along with his report.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.