Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Farooq Sattar demanded on Friday the arrest within 72 hours of the persons involved in the killing of four of its workers whose bodies were recovered on Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference at Khurshid Memorial Hall near the MQM headquarters, commonly known as “Nine-Zero,” Sattar said the party had never raised any accusatory fingers without solid evidence.
The senior MQM leader added that it was the government’s responsibility to ensure protection to the life and property of citizens. He said all unit offices of the MQM were shut down since the beginning of an operation in Karachi in September 2013.
Speaking about the killing of four MQM workers, whose bodies were recovered on Wednesday and identified a day later, he said the bodies of the activists bore marks of ‘barbaric’ torture who were later killed in a ruthless manner.
He further claimed that six party activists were picked up by plain-clothed personnel from a snooker club in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, adding that two of the persons were still missing while four others had been identified after the recovery of their bodies from Memon Goth area of Karachi.
He said a person had been conducting reconnaissance of the area since three hours prior to the arrests on April 13. Later, he said, the plain-clothed people, travelling in a double cabin, attacked the snooker club adding that the watchman posted on the premises opened fire assuming the attackers were robbers.
The attackers subdued the watchman after retaliatory firing and then nabbed the MQM activists from the club. Following the commotion, Rangers personnel also arrived at the scene to protect the plain-clothed men, Sattar added. He also demanded that the plain-clothed personnel involved in the incident should be revealed.
Following the identification of the bodies as those of MQM activists, the party announced for observing of a ‘day of mourning’ across the province against what it called was ‘extrajudicial killings and kidnapping’ of its activists.
The MQM’s stronghold cities of Karachi and Hyderabad witnessed a shutdown on Friday but life returned to normalcy after the burial of its activists concluded after Friday prayers.
