KARACHI/MIRPURKHAS/HYDERABAD: A day after the body of a “missing” Muttahida Qaumi Movement worker was found in Sanghar, bodies of three more men, who had gone missing in Karachi years ago, were found in different parts of the province on Wednesday, police said.

They said that two of the three victims belonged to the MQM and the third one was allegedly associated with Lyari gang warfare and chief of outlawed Peoples Amn Committee Uzair Baloch.

The MQM-Pakistan, which is a part of the ruling coalition at the Centre; the Altaf Hussain-led MQM, or MQM-London; as well as the Mustafa Kamal-led Pak Sarzameen Party expressed concerns over the killings of four “missing” persons of Karachi.

The body of MQM worker Abid Abbasi, who had been missing since 2016, was found on a roadside in Nawabshah.

MQM-P demands inquiry into ‘extrajudicial killing’ of three workers

Later, the body of another worker, identified as Wasim Akhtar alias Raju, who had been missing since April 2017, was found on the roadside near Mirpurkhas Sugar Mill. He was associated with MQM’s Shah Faisal Colony unit.

In the third such incident, the tortured body of a man was fished out from floodwater accumulated near Umerkot bypass on Wednesday. The taluka police found a computerised national identity card in his pocket through which he was identified as Sohail Hassan Makrani alias Sunny. Later, his heirs were contacted in Lyari and they came to Umerkot and confirmed the victim’s identity.

Deceased’s brother Farooq Hassan told Dawn that his brother went missing four years back and an FIR in this regard was lodged at the Baghdadi police station. He said that his second brother was also missing. He appealed to the Sindh government to get him recovered before he’s also killed.

Earlier on Tuesday, the body of “missing” MQM activist Irfan Basarat was found in district Sanghar. He was brother-in-law of MQM-P MNA Salahuddin, who was elected from a Hyderabad constituency in 2018.

MNA Salahuddin had raised the matter of Basarat’s disappearance in the National Assembly. He had informed people in private that he had raised the issue before the former and current prime ministers, but in vain. The body was handed over to the family following a post-mortem examination.

In Karachi, City SSP Shabbir Ahmed Sethar told Dawn that the “missing” MQM-P worker Abid was booked in a murder case at the Napier police station.

He further said that Sohail was booked in 10 cases and had been declared a proclaimed offender.

A social activist of Lyari, who wished not to be named, said that Sohail was an ‘important commander’ of Uzair Baloch-led gang in Lyari. He said Abid was also a ‘known character’ in Lyari as he had allegedly supported the rival gang of Uzair.

Interior minister promises investigation

In Islamabad, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Economic Affairs Minister Ayaz Sadiq met MQM-P leaders Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Aminul Haque and expressed their condolence over the recovery of three bodies of MQM workers, adds APP.

While condemning the incident, the interior minister assured the MQM-P that the federal government would conduct an independent investigation in cooperation with the Sindh government to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice.

MQM-P demands transparent probe

In a strong reaction, the MQM-P demanded that a transparent inquiry be conducted into the recent extrajudicial killings of the missing workers.

“We have talked to prime minister and also conveyed a message to the Sindh chief minister,” senior MQM-P leader and Maritime Affairs Minister Faisal Subzwari told a press conference here.

“We want an independent inquiry into these incidents. We firmly believe that our workers were innocents. If the youngsters of this city aren’t encouraged for their peaceful democratic struggle, they would look for other options,” he said.

He appealed to the prime minister, chief justice of Pakistan and army chief to take notice of “this grave injustice”.

Meanwhile, PSP chairman Mustafa Kamal expressed grave concerns over the recovery of bodies of missing persons of Karachi from different districts of Sindh during the last 24 hours.

He said that if these youths had committed any crime, they should have been brought before the court of law.

He said only a court could have decided whether these persons were guilty of any crime or not.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2022