MQM claims eight more activists held

Says in-charge of party’s literature body also picked up

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) claimed on Friday that eight more activists, including the in-charge of the party’s literature committee, had been picked up by the law enforcement agencies engaged in an operation against terrorists and other criminals in Karachi since September 2013.

Between Thursday night and Friday afternoon, police and the paramilitary Rangers have arrested eight more MQM activists from Federal B Area, Korangi and Pakistan Colony, said the party in a press statement. “Four brothers are also among those detained.” However, the paramilitary force has yet to confirm the party’s claim.

MQM coordination committee member Aminul Haque told The Express Tribune that more than 140 party activists had gone missing since the start of the operation.

“Our workers are being arrested from their homes and other places every other day,” said Haque. “The MQM is very concerned over this.” He said that two days ago nine workers were detained from different parts of the city.

The MQM leader called for releasing “the innocent workers” and said the detainees should be treated in accordance with the law and the constitution.

According to the party, Rangers picked up Sohail Ahmed, in-charge of the MQM’s literature committee, from outside a mosque in FB Area on Friday afternoon. The party called for an immediate stop to “illegal arrests and raids”.

“If the Karachi operation is not against just one party, then why are MQM workers the only ones who are being picked up?” said the party’s press statement. “The authorities are fooling the public when they say the operation is not directed against only one political party.”

The MQM urged the federal and provincial governments to take notice of “the fact that the detainees are not being presented before any court”. “All the arrested men have been moved to undisclosed locations, where they are being tortured.”

The party claimed that Sohail Ahmed was arrested without a case registered against him. “The rest of the workers were arrested from their homes.”

Meanwhile, the MQM organised a demonstration at the Karachi Press Club to protest against the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.

The protesters said party chief Altaf Hussain’s speeches were not being allowed to be aired on television. They called the move “undemocratic, illegal and in violation of human rights”.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2015.