Karachi News


DAWN/The News International, KARACHI	28 January 2005, Friday, 17 Zilhaj 1425

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Muttahida’s moot on Balochistan today, ARD not to attend
Shoaib Khan dies in jail
Housewife strangled; 2 found murdered
PPP lawmaker blames MQM for attack: Tension in Mirpurkhas
Rail track blown up in Bolan
Atmosphere not ripe for talks, says Bugti
Alleged terrorist killed, 3 held
Woman humiliated near Vehari
Muttahida’s moot on Balochistan today, ARD not to attend
QUETTA: The high command of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has announced to convene a round-table conference in Quetta this afternoon (Friday) to discuss the problems being faced by Balochistan and their resolution.
Deputy convener of the Muttahida and parliamentary leader of the party in the National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar announced this at a news conference here on Thursday. The Balochistan issue is political and it must be resolved politically instead of force, he suggested.
He said they had extended invitations to all the political and nationalist parties to take part in it and review the prevailing situation in Balochistan and find out an applicable solution. Majority of the politico-nationalist parties had assured to attend the conference, he added.
Dr Farooq Sattar observed that the people of Balochistan should be granted their due share in policy-making, decision-making and legislation. "More cantonments in the province should not be built without the consensus of people and political parties belonging to the province," he said.
Dr Farooq said President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had mad it clear in the meeting of the coalition partners of the federal government that there would be no military operation in Balochistan. Only steps would be adopted to protect the sensitive installations, he added.
The government should develop consensus between people and political parties of Balochistan if it realised that the cantonments are need of hour, he said. He said the Muttahida realised that it is high time to remove the sense of deprivation that was prevailing in Balochistan and all necessary measures must be adopted in this regard as early as possible.
Asim Yasin adds from Islamabad: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy has decided not to attend the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-sponsored round-table conference on Balochistan.
"We have decided not to attend the Muttahida round-table conference on Balochistan and will pursue our own course of action along with the opposition parties," said Secretary-General of the ARD Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, while talking to The News on Thursday.
He said the Muttahida was a part and parcel of the government and whatever was going on in Balochistan was due to the latter’s policies.
When contacted People’s Party Parliamentarians spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said the PPP would also not attend the RTC of the Muttahida as it felt that the latter was part of the government.
Shoaib Khan dies in jail
KARACHI: Shoaib Khan, nucleus of city’s first-ever recognised underworld, died in mysterious circumstances on early Thursday in the Karachi Central Prison, where he was confined since January 17, after the expiry of police remand.

A special police party from Lahore had arrested the 40-year-old kingpin of the underworld on December 29 and he was brought to the metropolis, where, after a few days’ investigations, police had claimed, "The accused is involved in about 17 cases, including murder cases of Ibrahim alias Bholu, Aslam Natha and others."

Sources at the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) told The News that around 5:30 am, Shoaib was brought by an Assistant Superintendent of Prison (ASP), Imtiaz Shaikh, to the hospital, where the duty medical officer declared him dead and his body was referred for autopsy to ascertain the cause of his death.

Dr Dalip Khatri, the Medico Legal Officer (MLO), examined the body and informed the police control. But from 5:30 am to 3pm, the body lay in the JPMC mortuary under strict police guard without any response. Anwar Siddiqi, introducing himself as a magistrate, and SHO New Town police station visited the JPMC, but they refused to submitting any written request for completing the legal formalities.

Dr Zulfiqar Siyal, the Additional Police Surgeon (APS), JPMC, told The News that the medico-legal section has constantly been facing this problem in case of custodial deaths. On the instructions of provincial health secretary, a medical board, comprising five forensic experts has been constituted to conduct autopsy, he added.

Owing to the seriousness of the case, all the five forensic experts were at standby since 9am and then present in the hospital since 2:30 pm, he said. The team of medico-legal experts were waiting for the magistrate to conduct the post-mortem till the filing of this report.

Amanullah Khan, an officer of the Karachi prison, told The News that Shoaib had been admitted to the jail hospital for two days and after that he was kept in security ward No 15. Replying to a query, he said: "Shoaib remained normal and never went on hunger-strike." At about 3 am on Thursday he complained of chest pain and was rushed to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on his arrival, which could be due to heart attack, he added. "We will be able to offer comment after completion of legal formalities, which will be based in the light of autopsy," he said. He said an inquiry into his death would be initiated only after an autopsy. Sources said during Eid-ul-Azha holidays, some of Shoaib’s relatives had come to the jail to see him, who were not allowed to meet and Shoaib had gone on hunger-strike in protest.

Housewife strangled; 2 found murdered

KARACHI: A housewife was strangulated and a young man was found murdered on Thursday, police said.

According to details, Sajda, 26, an artist working with a private TV channel was strangulated in her house when she resisted sexual assault on her in her Block 17 Gulistan-e-Jauhar house within Sharea Faisal police jurisdiction. Area people saw flames in the flat situated in Arif Pride and informed the fire brigade, which extinguished the fire. The fire fighters found a woman lying dead in the room and informed the police.

The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where medico-legal staff was not free and the police occupied the mortuary, where they kept the body of Shoaib Khan, who died mysteriously in jail.

The body was then shifted to the Civil Hospital, where medico-legal experts said that unknown persons first sexually assaulted the housewife and then strangulated her with a piece of wire. The deceased woman was also pregnant, they added.

Area police said that in this murder some persons known to the deceased might have been involved as the internal security system of the residential building was very difficult to enter.

Police have registered a case against unknown killers.

FOUND DEAD: Fawad Ahmed, 27, a cousin of Altaf Hussain, the Chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, brother-in-law of Israr Hussain, brother of Altaf, an employee of social security and resident of House No L-520 Metroville III was found dead in mysterious circumstances on Thursday within Mubina Town police jurisdiction.

They took him to a private hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. Later the body was brought to Civil Hospital for autopsy, where the post-mortem examination was being conducted till filing of this report.

Fayyaz Mirani, 24, resident of Gulshan-e-Hadeed Phase I, was found murdered in isolated vicinity near to his house in the Steel Town police jurisdiction.

Passers-by informed the police who shifted the body to the JPMC. This murder could be a result of some old enmity, area police opined.

DIES: Shaukat Asif, 28, a labourer working at a puncture shop, lost his life when an iron rim of a tyre hit him in his head, while he was opening a tyre for repairing near Truck Stand in Mauripur police limits.

His body was shifted to the Civil Hospital and later placed in the Edhi morgue.

VEHICLES: At least 15 vehicles including 11 motorcycles were hijacked from various parts of the city, police confirmed.

Two cars and six motorcycles were snatched at gunpoint, while two cars and five motorcycles were stolen from different city areas. Police claimed to have recovered seven vehicles including five motorcycles.

PPP lawmaker blames MQM for attack: Tension in Mirpurkhas

MIRPURKHAS, Jan 27: Pakistan People's Party MNA Syed Qurban Ali Shah has alleged that MQM activists were involved in an incident offiring on his house on Wednesday and the DPO of Mirpurkhas had got names of the culprits.

He told newsmen here on Thursday that MQM minister Rauf Siddiqi had talked to him on telephone about the incident and he had informed the minister about it and asked him to get the names of assailants from the DPO.

He reminded the minister that MQM chief Altaf Hussain had vowed that no Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist would attack any Sindhi-speaking people but MQM activists had broken this pledge of their leader.

Mr Shah said that now it was responsibility of Altaf Hussain to remove those party men who were involved in the armed attack on him and take appropriate action against them.

He demanded of the IGP of Sindh to take legal action against the culprits. One person was injured in the firing on the MNA's house by six gunmen. The incident caused panic in the Satellite Town in the area on Thursday.

Police raided different places in the city to arrest the accused nominated in cases registered after the death of Abu Bakar Panhwar in police custody. Injured Mohammad Ayub Leghari was taken to the civil hospital.

On the complaint of Hussain Bux Lakho, manager of the MNA, police registered a case under sections 324, 147, 148 and 149 PPC against the unidentified gunmen.Talking to journalists, the MNA said this was an attack on him and his son as they were present in the house at the time of the firing.

Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Abdul Majeed alleged that SHO Khuda Bux Panhwar and other policemen forcibly entered his Lal Para house in his absence, misbehaved with his family members, including women, and used abusive language.

He condemned the police action and demanded that the Provincial Police Officer and the Regional Police Officer should take a notice of the matter and suspend the SHO.

Police and Rangers jointly patrolled the area and police had also been deployed at different places to avert any untoward incident. Meanwhile, the judicial magistrate of Mirpurkhas remanded four arrested policemen in police custody. The arrested policemen have been kept at the Digri police station.

The Town investigation police produced Sindh People's Students Federation activists Junaid Buland, Yousuf Qureshi and Farooq Chishti before the court of the judicial magistrate and obtained their seven-day remand in custody.

Sindh Culture and Tourism Minister Shabbir Ahmad Qaimkhani, accompanied by DCO Mohammad Siddiq Memon and DPO Altaf Hussain Bhatti, inquired about the health of Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists Mohammad Azhar and Mohammad Aslam, who had been injured on Tuesday night in Hameedpura Colony.

Muttahida zonal in-charge Abdul Saleem Razzaq said negligence of police had led to lawlessness in the city. He held PPP and SPSF activists responsible for the situation.

MNA: PPP MNA Nawab Mohammad Yousuf Talpur has condemned what he called government-sponsored terrorism in the city in the wake of protests against custodial death of a man. In a statement issued here on Thursday, he alleged that the government wanted to create crisis but democratic forces would not allow it to harm the country.

He observed that the Mirpurkhas incident indicated that a particular coalition party in the government wanted to create ethnic riots in Sindh. Activists of that party were being allowed to attack PPP workers and even the house of an MNA, he alleged.

He regretted that instead of registering an FIR against the culprits, police registered a false case against PPP MPA Shamim Aara Panhwar and other party leaders.

Rail track blown up in Bolan

QUETTA: A powerful bomb exploded near a railway track in Mushkaf area in district Bolan, some 110-km off here on Thursday, suspending the rail traffic for four hours.

Talking to The News, officials of Pakistan railways said that unknown terrorists planted a powerful bomb near the railway track, about three kilometres from Mushkaf railway station.

The explosive device blew up three feet long railway track and created four feet deep crater. After the explosion, the officials of the police, administration and railways reached the scene and started probe into the matter.

The railway officials claimed to have repaired the track after three-hour hectic efforts. The train service from Quetta to other parts of the country remained suspended for sometime due to the blast. Later, the Bolan Mail and winter special train resumed their journey.

AFP adds: A rocket landed near an electrical grid station in Sibbi, about 150 kilometres off here late on Wednesday, but there was no damage. Local residents said that they heard three blasts, but it could not be confirmed. A bomb also exploded in a public park here late on Wednesday, but caused no casualties or damage.

Atmosphere not ripe for talks, says Bugti

DERA BUGTI, Jan 27: Chief of the Jamhoori Watan Party Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti has ruled out any possibility of talks on the Sui crisis unless the issue of assault on a lady doctor is sorted out , saying the atmosphere is not conducive for talks at the moment.

Talking to Dawn here on Thursday, Nawab Bugti said: "Such incidents do not take place in our land. It has become a matter of deep concern for the Baloch people." The veteran Baloch leader alleged that attempts were made at various levels to hush up the incident and even an FIR was not registered.

He pointed out that it was only after the ugly incident, which angered the local people, that the Sui gas field was attacked. In return, Nawab Bugti alleged, the government bombed the area, killing five people including women and children and leaving 32 wounded.

When asked about a government inquiry into the incident, he said that since independence numerous inquiries had taken place in the country, but without any result. Even the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan, he added, still remained a mystery.

Referring to Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain's statement on Balochistan, he said the MQM chief was right in saying that installations could be repaired or rebuilt but lost honour could not be restored.