Targeted killing: Bodies of three MQM workers found in Karachi

Party appeals to SC to take suo motu notice of worker’s ‘extrajudicial killing’

KARACHI:

The bodies of three men found from the outskirts of the city Saturday evening have been identified as Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers Rehan Jaffery, Naeem Jaffery and Jaffar Abbas Jaffery. The identification of the three came hours after the custodial death of an MQM worker allegedly involved in cases of targeted killing. The MQM condemned what it called extrajudicial killing of its workers and announced a day of mourning on Sunday.

Rehan Jaffery and Naeem Jaffery were residents of Lines Area and Jaffar Abbas Jaffery was a resident of Rizvia Society. Their bodies were found from the jurisdiction of the Mochko police station and subsequently shifted to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth where they were identified by their families. The police said that all the three men were shot once in the head and their bodies also bore torture marks.

The Mochko police station SHO, Chudhary Saleem, said that the victims belonged to the Shia community. He added that Rehan was MQM’s Lines Area sector committee member and employee of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. He said that the families had reported to the police that the three had left for fishing on January 5 and had been missing since.

This came following the death of Syed Faraz Alam, 24, an MQM worker who was in the custody of investigation wing of the Khokhrapar police of District Malir. The police claimed that Alam, who had confessed to killing four men during interrogation, died when he was being taken to the City Courts as his seven-day remand had expired.

The MQM, however, refused to believe the story and claimed that Alam died in custody due to police torture. The party announced a countrywide peaceful day of mourning on Sunday (today).

Following the announcement, panic gripped the city and commercial activities were partially suspended in some neighbourhoods of the metropolis including Malir, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Korangi, Nazimabad, Federal B area and Liaqutabad while Sindh Tajir Ittrehad and Karachi Tranport Ittehad also backed MQM’s call.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned the ‘custodial killing’ of Alam and said his party was being targeted under the garb of the Karachi operation. “The police officers involved in the killing of Faraz Alam should be arrested and a murder case be lodged against them,” he said.  Altaf also appealed to the army chief, the prime minister and the interior minister to take notice of the incident.

“On the one hand, terrorists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Taliban are targeting us while on the other hand, the police and other law enforcement agencies are involved in abducting our workers and killing them extra-judicially,” he said.

Addressing a press conference late Saturday night, the MQM Rabita committee in-charge Qamar Mansoor said false cases were registered against their deceased worker. He said the police were asking one million rupees as bribe in return for his release. “There are torture marks on Faraz Alams body, he was electrocuted and burnt,” he claimed.

He questioned why the police were not carrying out operation against militants and terrorists in the city and instead were arresting ‘innocent workers’ of the party. Mansoor said the worker had previously informed the court about police torture but his pleas went unnoticed. Giving details about killings of other workers, he requested the army chief as well as the Supreme Court to take sou motu action

In a late-night development, MQM workers gathered outside the Sindh Chief Minister’s House after removing barriers and containers. Led by MQM leaders Haidar Abbas Rizvi and Amir Khan, the MQM workers staged a sit-in to protest against, what the party calls, persecution of its activists by the state and proscribed organisations.

Doctors slain

In other violence, three people, including two doctors, were shot dead in three separate targeted attacks Saturday night. The two doctors – Dr Ali Akbar and Dr Yawar Hussain – were gunned at their clinics by gunmen armed motorcyclists in the Paposh Nagar locality of the city. The Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Mulimeen said both victims belonged to the Shia community. However, police officials said Dr Ali Akbar belonged to the Sunni sect.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2015.