DAWN/The News International, KARACHI
31 May 1999, Monday, 15 Safar 1420
KARACHI: Four police officials were arrested on Sunday following the death of an activist of Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the lock-up of Garden police station in the wee hours of Sunday due to alleged torture.
The man was identified as Shafiq alias Kalia, an activist of Muttahida, Unit 31. Garden police, the sources claimed, had arrested Shafiq from a flat situated in Soldier Bazar police limits late in the night of Friday last.
He was carrying Rs 1 million head money announced by the Sindh government. Allegedly involved in more then 24 heinous crimes including 15 killings, the man was a graduate jobless resident of Soldier Bazar area. He was affiliated with Muttahida since 1987, and was considered as a hard core activist of the party.
Acting on a tip-off, the Garden police raided the locked flat of his sister and arrested him. Independent sources claimed during the course of interrogation, the condition of the accused deteriorated in the wee hours of Sunday. He was rushed to the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Hospital sources said marks of torture were very visible on different parts of the body. Later, the police contacted the heirs of the deceased and handed the body over to them. The family, the sources further claimed, along with a large number of people, party workers and some leaders, took the body to the Civil Hospital and asked the authorities to conduct a post-mortem. The Medico-Legal Officers (MLOs), however, refused to do so. Later, the protesters took the body to the Governor House and staged a demonstration there for more than an hour.
On receiving the information of the demonstration, senior police officers of District South reached the spot and told the protesters that a case of murder has been registered against the Garden police officials. They also managed to conduct the autopsy at the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre.
The MLOs at the JPMC, however, reserved the cause of death and sent the viscera of deceased to the laboratory for chemical examination. The police, however, registered the case of murder against four cops of Garden police station, including Sub-Inspector Azam Khan, Sub-Inspector Yousuf Tanoli, ASI Tauqeer Ahmed and Constable Muhammad Siddiq.
A press release issued by the office of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) South said: "On May 25 last, a notorious terrorist Shafiq Kalia, son of Qutubuddin, was arrested by the Garden Police. He was involved in more than 24 heinous cases including 15 murders, police encounters, burning of vehicles and assault.
"During the midnight between May 29 and 30, his condition deteriorated at the police station. He was taken to hospital but he expired on way to hospital. In order to investigate into the incident, a case has been registered against the police officers involved in the investigation. All police officers nominated in the FIR have been arrested."
Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Coordination Committee has warned the government of grave consequences against influencing the MLO report on Shafiq's death. Senator Aftab Ahmed Sheikh demanded of the president, COAS, Supreme Court Chief Justice and international Human Rights organisations to take notice of custodial death of Shafiq which, he said, was the tenth extrajudicial killing of MQM activists during the PML rule.
He stated this while addressing a press conference at Nine Zero and added that police was bent upon killing Mohajirs in Karachi. The MQM coordination committee demanded to constitute a judicial commission headed by a sessions judge to hold an inquiry into the death of Shafiq so that punishment could be given to the culprits according to law.
Aftab said Nawaz Sharif was running the country with the help of police, and the whole country had become a police state with no rule of law and the Constitution. Aftab said extrajudicial killings were being reported in all the four provinces. He said action should be taken against the police officer who informed the family members about Shafiq's extrajudicial killings due to which deceased's father suffered a heart attack.
'Govt engaged in Mohajirs genocide'KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Husain took serious exception to the killing of MQM worker Shafiq Ahmad by police. In a statement he said it was part of planned genocide of Mohajirs and demanded of the president, the COAS and Chief Justice of Pakistan to take serious view of the extra-judicial killing. He alleged that the anti-Mohajir establishment had conpired to systematically crush Mohajirs and eliminate the MQM. He said police, government agencies and 'Haqiqi terrorists' killed more than 300 MQM workers and supporters during the present regime. He pointed out that in the Governors Rule, like the previous regime, the MQM workers were killed in government custody, extra-judicially and even in fake encounters. He disclosed that 12 MQM workers had been extra-judicially killed. Altaf said the brutal methods applied to kill Shafiq extra-judicially, reflected prejudicial the attitude of the present Muslim League rulers, which deployed an establishment which had deep sense of hatred towards Mohajirs which was systematically carrying out genocide of the MQM workers specially the youngsters. Altaf Hussain expressed her deep grief over the Shahadat of Shafiq Ahmad, in a message to his mother and said that each and every workers of the MQM shared the sorrow and grief..
MQM castigates govt over KESCKARACHI: Sheikh Liaquat Hussain, MQM MNA, has castigated government for nominating Wapda officers in the KESC Board of Directors, after dismissing all non-official directors and said government wanted forced occupation of the corporation by Punjab. In a statement, he condemned what he called govt's nefarious move by creating desperate administrative and economic situation in the KESC, so that officers, mostly from Punjab, could be placed in the board.
Three gunned down, two bodies found