On the hit-list?: MQM loses another worker to ‘torture’, asks state to take action

Party leaders give govt 24 hours to take action against officers involved in torturing their workers.

KARACHI:

The death of Muhammad Adil aka Adeel, associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement's unit 136, has reinforced to the party's belief that its workers are being picked up by law enforcement agencies and are being tortured to the point of death.

Adil was apprehended during a raid at his residence in North Karachi by law enforcers on Saturday — the same day that MQM had called a strike to protest against the extrajudicial killing of party workers after finding the tortured body of Mohammad Salman. Also on Saturday, another worker, Fahad Aziz, was picked up on his way back from his wedding late night. He was released on bail a day later.

"He was returned to us in a half-dead condition," said Adil's brother, Abdul Samad. "He was subjected to torture during custody which caused injuries to his head."

Adil was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment where doctors pronounced him dead after taking him off the ventilator. "His skull was damaged and he died due to brain clotting," said the doctor who treated Adil. "We tried our level best but could not save his life."

The police, however, denied having any knowledge of his arrest. "The Rangers had apprehended him. We were not informed when he was arrested or when he was released," DSP Altaf Hussain told The Express Tribune. "It came to our notice after he passed away."

The Rangers spokesperson was not available for comment, despite repeated attempts on his cellphone.

Adil's funeral prayers were offered near his residence in North Karachi. It was attended by a large number of people, including MQM leaders Farooq Sattar, Rauf Siddiqui and Wasay Jalil. He was laid to rest at the Shohda graveyard in Azizabad.

"We have already lost 12 of our men and now another comrade has left us," Sattar said while talking to the media after the funeral prayers. "Our men are being handed over to their families almost half-dead. The groom, Fahad Aziz, luckily remained safe as his news came on the media on time."

This was not the first incident to have occurred during the ongoing Karachi operation in which, according to the party, MQM's workers have been targeted. Separate inquiry teams looking into the deaths of the MQM workers were constituted by the police high-ups while a few policemen were also suspended. Not a single inquiry report, however, has been finalised or its contents made public so far.

Demanding information about its 45 activists who have gone missing after being picked up allegedly by law enforcement agencies, the MQM called for action against officers involved in torturing and killing their workers within the next 24 hours.

"If we are not told about the whereabouts of our workers and no action is taken against the police, then we will be forced to declare our next move," said MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi at a press conference on Tuesday. The MQM leader said that the police should take immediate action against the officers involved in torturing Muhammad Adil and Mohammad Salman to death, and for torturing Fahad Aziz and keeping him in illegal detention.

Meanwhile, MQM chief Altaf Hussain and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah also spoke on the phone during which the party leader raised his concerns on the safety of MQM's workers.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2014.