DAWN / NEWS International, Karachi 03 November 1997 Monday 02 Rajab 1418 Threat exists to Altaf's life, says minister PESHAWAR, Nov 2: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said on Sunday MQM chief Altaf Hussain had no plans to return to Pakistan because, he claimed, secret agencies wanted to eliminate him physically. "The day he returns he will be killed on way to his home from the airport," said Mr Siddiqui in response to a question at a press conference here after inaugurating the provincial office of the MQM. The federal minister, who is also the convener of the MQM's Rabita Committee, accused the agencies of playing a major role in the ouster of every government. He said the situation was not conducive to Altaf Hussain's return because there was threat to his life. Mr Siddiqui also held the agencies responsible for the law and order problem in Karachi. To the question why he was sharing power with the government if he had so many complaints against government agencies, the MQM minister said it was because in the past the two parties struggled jointly to uphold democracy and the rule of law in the country. To another question, he said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had told them he was helpless when the operation was launched against the MQM in 1992. "Mr Sharif has apologized for that and we have accepted his contention that the operation was planned and executed at the behest of the then chief of the army staff, Gen Asif Nawaz", said the MQM leader. About the present situation in Karachi, he said though it had improved a lot during the past few months, there still were "no go areas". He regretted that despite having a massive mandate the present government had failed to curtail the powers of the agencies which were responsible for "killings and lawlessness in Karachi." Reiterating his party's demands, while responding to a question, he said the government should constitute a judicial tribunal to look into the cases of extra-judicial killings which took place during the tenure of Benazir government and also called for payment of compensation to the affected families. "We won't forgo this demand", he asserted. About the recently resolved government-judiciary tussle, Mr Siddiqui said the constitution had clearly defined the functions of the two pillars of the state and no one should try to infringe on the other. He said the MQM was neutral in the whole affairs. ---------------------------------- Withdrawal of case against MQM leaders challenged HYDERABAD, Nov 2: Advocate Shuaib Shibli has, through a writ petition, challenged an order of Sindh home department to withdraw a case against the stalwarts of both factions of MQM. The case relates to kidnapping and torture of the advocate's younger brother, Owais Shibli, a dissident activist of MQM. The accused named in the case include the present Mohajir Qaumi Movement chief Afaq Ahmed Khan, former MQM MNAs Kunwar Naveed and Rasheed Bhayya, former MPA Mubeen Sheikh, Anis Qaimkhani who is a close associate of the present Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain, and three other accused. In the case, Afaq Ahmed Khan, Mubeen Sheikh and others had been declared proclaimed offenders in 1996 by the VIIth additional district and sessions judge who had also ordered for action under section 87 and 88 CrPC (attachment of property). The impugned order of the home department, dated Oct 21, 1997, issued by the deputy secretary (law enforcement Karachi read "the government of Sindh is pleased to have decided that the case vide FIR No. 56/89 u/s 364, 34 PPC of police station B-Section may be withdrawn in view of recommendation made by district and divisional administrations and the review committee". A copy of the letter has been received at the trial court and deputy district attorney (DDA), Mr Ashfaque Ahmed, has filed an application u/s 494 CrPC for the withdrawal of the case in which the petitioner himself is the complainant. Hearing on the application of the DDA is fixed for Nov 17. In the petition, advocate Shuaib Shibli has named government of Sindh through secretary, home department, chief minister of Sindh, commissioner and deputy commissioner of Hyderabad as respondents. He has said that recommendations of the committee were without lawful authority and illegal, adding that it was an attempt to interfere in normal dispensation of justice for illegitimate reasons. He said dispute was not between the respondents and the accused persons but the petitioner and the victim were private persons; thus the respondents had no powers to withdraw the prosecution of the case. He maintained that serious accusations were levelled against the accused; the petitioner and his brother were eye-witnesses of the case for whose disposal there was sufficient evidence. He said that DDA had failed to bring any reasons in support of withdrawal on record and the basis of recommendations by Civil administration was also not placed on record before the trial court. He contended that the petitioner and the victim were never heard by the review committee and the civil administration while calling for withdrawal of the case. He added if the accused were set free then no one would come forward to pinpoint the crime and the criminals. He prayed to the SHC to declare the impugned order as illegal and without lawful authority. He also prayed for directives to the trial court for a fair trial and verdict in the case. Shuaib Shibli has also submitted an application under section 497 CrPC before the court of the VIIth additional district and sessions judge requesting for cancellation of bail granted to Anis Ahmed Qaimkhani, an accused in the case who had gone abroad without obtaining prior permission from this court. It may be recalled that on July 7, 1989, Owais Shibli was allegedly kidnapped by Afaq Ahmed and his co-accused. Thereafter, an FIR was registered at the B-Section police station here on July 17, 1989. Owais Shibli had parted ways with MQM and formed his own organization, namely, Sense of Brotherhood Council. ---------------------------------- Two religious scholars killed in bomb attack KARACHI, Nov 2: The principal of Jamia Islamia, Binori Town, Maulana Dr Habibullah Mukhtar, and one of his colleagues were burnt to death when two motorcyclists hurled an explosive device at their van on the Business Recorder Road. The driver also died on the spot as the assailants fired at the van. Maulana Mukhtar (60) was a son-in-law of the late Maulana Mohammad Yousuf Binori. A companion of the Maulana was injured and another escaped unhurt in the shooting, which took place near the Guru Mandir intersection at 12.50pm. Late in the night a student of Jamia Nomania was shot dead near Islamia College while he was going to Binori Town for attending the funeral of Maulana Mukhtar. The others who died were identified as Mufti Abdus Sami (40), driver Mohammad Tahir (26), and student Ibrarul Haq (23). Maulana Bashir Ahmed Naqshbandi (45), received multiple bullet injuries. Maulana Abdul Qayyum Chitrali (46) escaped unhurt as he jumped off the van. Maulana Habibullah Mukhtar was laid to rest in the precincts of Jamia Islamia, Binori Town at 10pm. The JUI chief, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, flew from Quetta aboard a plane of the Balochistan Chief Minister to attend the funeral. Another JUI leader, Hafiz Husain Ahmed, and several Balochistan ministers accompanied Maulana Fazlur Rahman. Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Qamar, elder brother of Dr Mukhtar, led the prayers. Maulana Abdul Hafeez Makki, a religious scholar, flew from Saudi Arabia to attend the funeral. The body of Mufti Abdus Sami was flown to his native town, Pano Akil. Students of different schools run by the Jamia Islamia, Binori Town, began converging on the parent institution at Jamshed Road after hearing the news. Enraged protesters too came out on roads heading towards Saddar, Soldier Bazaar, Liaquatabad, Jamshed Road, and Nazimabad and suspended traffic by setting ablaze tyres and pelting vehicles with stones. Mufti Nizamuddin, a member of the Darul-Fata, Jamia Islamia, Binori Town, told Dawn that two unknown motorcyclists intercepted the van of Maulana Habibullah Mukhtar at Guru Mandir intersection and first fired at driver Mohammad Tahir, killing him on the spot. Maulana Bashir Ahmed Naqshbandi was wounded and Maulana Abdul Qayyum Chitrali escaped unhurt in the shooting, he added. Then the unknown assailants lobbed a combustible device on the van, turning it into a smouldering wreckage. Maulana Dr Mukhtar and Mufti Abdus Sami were burnt inside the van, he added. Another scholar from the Jamia Binoria, SITE, told Dawn that Dr Habibullah and three of his companions had left Ma'araf- ul-Uloom, a branch of Jamia Islamia in Paposhnagar, Nazimabad, and were proceeding to the Jamia Islamia on Jamshed Road. As the van reached near the Guru Mandir crossing, the attackers ambushed it. The bodies were removed to the Civil hospital for autopsy and the injured were taken to the emergency section of the hospital. An official of the bomb disposal squad told Dawn that his team could not reach the spot as rampaging protesters were erecting obstacles on roads leading to the scene of the tragedy. "I have seen the burnt-out van but was unable to collect specimen of the explosive material," he added. Protests spread to other areas of the city by evening and people started stoning vehicles. They also burned tyres to impede traffic. Residents of localities on Khalid Bin Waleed, Shaheed-i-Millat and Jamshed Roads told Dawn about the forced closure of markets and shops in the neighbourhood. Police were not present, one resident complained. A political worker who lives in the vicinity of the Jamia at Jamshed Road told Dawn by telephone that she had seen a group of people looting shops outside the Binori Town mosque. She said: "I also heard announcements on loudspeakers asking students to refrain from taking law into their hands and to confine themselves to the four walls of the Jamia". Two shops, a bank and a bakery located near the scene of the tragedy were burnt and looted. An employee of a bakery was shot at and injured near the Lasbela roundabout. Some enraged students attacked Press photographers near Guru Mandir and smashed their cameras. Amar Aftab and Syed Athar Hussain were snapping troublemakers. Heavy contingents of law enforcement agencies were deployed outside mosques in the affected areas. ---------------------------------- Two found dead in Korangi KARACHI, Nov 2: Two people, including a Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist, were found shot dead in separate places of Korangi on Sunday. The bullet-riddled body of a young man was found in K area. It was shifted to JPMC mortuary for autopsy. The identity of the victim could not be ascertained till late. The police have mounted a search for the suspects but had no clue to them. In another incident, the police said a young man was shot dead after he was believed to have been kidnapped from his house. The victim was identified by police as Khaleel, an embroidery worker by profession. The police said they have registered the case of murder against unknown assailants. The motive of murders in both the incidents could not be ascertained so far by the police. An MQM press release said Khalil Ahmed, son of Din Mohammad, was its worker and was sitting outside his shop when he was attacked and killed by Haqiqi men. WOUNDED: A shopkeeper was shot and wounded in Soldier Bazaar area. The police said Ejaz Hussain was in his shop on Clayton Road when gunmen barged in, opened fire at him and fled. He was taken to hospital for medical aid. Hasan Askri, 18, was wounded in a shooting incident in Jamshed Quarters and was taken to JPMC. ACCIDENT: A young unidentified man was killed in a road accident by a hit-and-run vehicle in Sachal police limits. The body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital mortuary for autopsy. ---------------------------------- Karamat forced Nawaz to agree to judges' appointments: NYT NEW YORK: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif "agreed to the judges' appointments only after the army commander, General Jehangir Karamat, told him that he would not tolerate a constitutional crisis", according to The New York Times. Its bureau chief for South Asia, in his dispatch, also feared that Pakistan was headed for another cycle of upheaval. In its Sunday issue, the NYT has published a report on Pakistan's political crisis and said: "Nine months after the election in which Nawaz Sharif won a landslide victory and became prime minister again, his bruising drive to entrench his authority, has raised fears that Pakistan could be headed for another cycle of upheaval. The newspaper added that in his second term, Nawaz Sharif "has sought to insure that he cannot be unseated again before completing a full-five-year term. To that end, he has set out to curb the powers of the president, army commander, parliament and judiciary." The NYT also quoted some 'accounts circulating in Islamabad' that "Mr Sharif agreed to the judges appointments only after the army commander, General Jehangir Karamat, told him that he would not tolerate a constitutional crisis." It also quoted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's recent speech saying Pakistani people would have to accept that "whenever someone is about to rescue them from the clutches of poverty and misery, there will be a counterwave to push them back into the same bottomless pit." ---------------------------------- Government urged to identify hands behind Karachi killings LONDON, Nov 2: The Afaq-led Mohajir Qaumi Movement claimed on Friday it had received "substantial evidence" from Pakistan to show that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was involved in the murder of its own workers. "We have received hard evidence including photographs to establish the involvement of Altaf-led MQM in killings in Karachi and we will soon be releasing it to the Press and other human rights organisations," Nizamuddin, chairman of the 5-member organising committee in London of Afaq-led MQM told Dawn. The party announced that it would set up its offices in London on Nov 3 for, what it said, countering the "anti-Pakistan propaganda by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement". Nizamuddin, who was a personal bodyguard of Altaf Hussain in Karachi, said he had received some important material from his organisation in Pakistan which would be released to the press in the near future. "We are working hard and concentrating on establishing contacts with our workers as well as Urdu-speaking people living in London and telling them about the real hands behind the killings in Karachi," he said. He said his party was forced to set up offices here as Altaf's party was busy propagating against Pakistan as well as against his MQM from London. "We are now here to counter their propaganda and unveil their real faces," he said. The new chapter of MQM was formed here earlier this month during the visit of Tehseen Zafar, a member of the central executive committee. He had also announced the formation of a 5-member organising committee at a news conference. The other members of the committee are Athar Khan, Yousaf Hashmi, Mohammad Suhail and Mohammad Imran. The organising committee members had come to Britain as "political asylum seekers" after the military operation in Karachi in 1991. Nizamuddin accused the Altaf-led MQM of killing his own workers, torturing them and ignoring the cause of the Mohajir community in Pakistan. "We have proofs of their torture cells and we will release them very soon," he said. Nizamuddin questioned the life style of Altaf Hussain and said he was living a luxurious life in London and owned three huge buildings here. "He spends thousands of pounds on his living as well as on running his huge international secretariat in London. Can he answer who is funding him?" ---------------------------------- One maund of heroin seized KARACHI: The Anti Narcotic Force (ANF) on Saturday night nabbed two passengers from a night coach train at Cantt Railway Station and claimed to have recovered one maund of heroin powder, worth millions of rupees in international market, from their possession. According to sources, on a tip off that some drug traffickers were transporting a large quantity of drug from upcountry, an ANF team mounted vigil on all the incoming trains at Cantt Railway Station. Acting on a specific information, the ANF personnel raided bogie No. 15 of a night coach train and recovered one maund of heroin powder during the search of baggage, following which both the drug smugglers were arrested. Further investigations were underway. ---------------------------------- Literature forfeited KARACHI: The Sindh Home Department has issued orders for forfeiture of literature titled: "Kiya Waqia Karbala Kufro-o-Islam ka Maarka Tha", "Ahle Bait Kaun Hain", "Shia ke Bare Main Amir-e-Azimat Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi ka Mauklat", and "Kiya Waqia Karbala Maarka Hak-o-Batil Tha", published from Gulshan-e-Iqbal and "Siddique Akbar Aur Farooq Azam", written by Maulvi Abdul Karim Mushtaq. According to an official announcement, the Sindh Government, keeping in view that the literature contains objectionable material and likely to accentuate sectarianism in the province, has imposed ban on circulation of these publications under Section 99-A of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. ---------------------------------- LAHORE: Girl raped, murdered LAHORE, Nov 2: A 12-year-old girl was found murdered allegedly after being raped in her house in Akram Park, Islampura, on Sunday. The victim, a daughter of a fruit vendor, was the only sister of six brothers. The girl was alone in the house when some unidentified person(s) allegedly raped and strangulated her. The body was found stretched in a corner of the verandah of the house by her brother. The clothes of the victim had been torn apart and a scarf was tied around her neck. Her body bore several marks of torture. The family of the victim said they had no enmity with anybody, and suspected the accused killed the girl on fear of being recognized. The body of the girl has been removed to the mortuary for autopsy. Police have yet to register a case. ---------------------------------- Bomber who killed 15 slain by police LAHORE: Accused Indian agent Naveed Asghar, who escaped from Qila Gujar Singh Police custody on October 29, was killed in the wee hours of Sunday in an encounter with the Qila Gujar Singh Police in the area of Manawan. Evidence revealed that Naveed Asghar fell victim to the 'speedy justice' of the police when two bullets fired by the police entered his back and exited from the front. The police version of the encounter revealed that SHO Qila Gujar Singh Ahsan Illahi Khokhar received a tip that Naveed Asghar would try to cross the border in the wee hours of Sunday. The SHO then organised a police party, including Sub-inspector Mohammed Tufail, Sub-inspector Malik Raheel, Mohammed Shafi, Saifullah, Noor Mohammed and Allah Dita, who assembled at a secret picket at Bhaini Road, Manawan. The SHO said they saw a person going towards the border at about 3.30 am. When the police party asked him to surrender, he opened fire to which the police retaliated, killing him on the spot. Naveed's corpse was sent to the city morgue for autopsy. A source told The News that the bullets entered Naveed's body from behind, apparently at a close range. Naveed Asghar was arrested by the Cantt Circle Police about four months back. According to the police record, Naveed Asghar was a RAW agent and had been involved in six bomb blasts: on 23/7/96 in Sargodha leaving nine persons injured; on 8/9/96 at Rabwa leaving 12 injured; on 4/11/96 at Gujar Khan railway station in which nine persons were killed and 12 seriously injured; on 4/12/96 in front of Panorama Centre, Lahore, leaving one dead and three injured; on 28/2/97 in a commuter wagon at Railway Station, Lahore, killing five persons; and at Rail Bazar Gujranwala leaving nine injured. After his arrest, Naveed Asghar was handed over to the Pakistan Army which interrogated him for about two-and-a- half months before returning him to the police. Upon the news of Asghar's death, police officials reached the spot and offered words of appreciation to the police party which had taken part in the encounter. Departmental certificates and promotions were also recommended. ----------------------------------