- Just hours before his scheduled hanging, MQM hitman Saulat Mirza accuses party chief Altaf Hussain of directly ordering assassinations
- Statement leads to a postponement of Mirza’s execution for 72 hours in a hurriedly called meeting at the Presidency
In a damning ‘video confession’ made available to media just hours before the scheduled execution of MQM’s convicted hitman Saulat Mirza, the man condemned to death for carrying out several high-profile assassinations in Karachi accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain and some other leaders of directly ordering the ‘hits’. The statement led to a postponement of Mirza’s execution for 72 hours in a hurriedly called meeting at the Presidency late on Wednesday night.
Saulat Mirza, in a supposed video confession aired on a news channel, hurled startling allegations in which he confessed to being an MQM worker and carrying out the murder of KESC chief Shahid Hamid on direct orders from Altaf Hussain.
“I was summoned at Babar Ghauri’s house where I took Altaf Hussain’s orders via telephone. Altaf Hussain would usually pass on instructions through Babar Ghauri,” alleged Saulat Mirza, further claiming that MQM leader Azeem Tariq was also murdered by him on Altaf Hussain’s orders.
Mirza revealed that orders were given on telephone by the party chief himself. Usually, the party chief would either give orders himself or through the likes of Babar Ghauri.
He further alleged that people whom the party wanted to save from police torture are provided protection in police stations through Governor Ishratul Ebad Khan. Even during the PPP’s government, Mirza said that he was facilitated in jail and allowed to meet family members in separate rooms.
In the video, shot apparently on death row in Mach Jail, shows Mirza claiming that Altaf would not let anyone to rise in the party, adding that the MQM chief ordered the murder of Azeem Tariq when he started rising within the party ranks. Similarly, when former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal started getting popular among masses, he was disgracefully thrown out of the party.
Mirza appealed to his fellow party workers to take heed from his fate, of how he was used and then later discarded like ‘used tissue paper’.
The death row convict said earlier he was afraid for the safety of his family.
EXECUTION STAYED:
In a dramatic turn of events, just minutes after Mirza’s ‘confessional’ video was broadcast, his execution was stayed for 72 hours.
The decision was reportedly taken by President Mamnoon Hussain on the request of Interior Ministry.
BACKGROUND:
Mirza was found guilty of murdering the then managing director (MD) of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), now K-electric, Malik Shahid Hamid, his driver Ashraf Brohi, and his guard Khan Akbar outside Hamid’s residence in DHA on July 5, 1997.
Previously a resident of Block J in North Nazimabad, Karachi, Saulat was his parents’ fourth child.
Having received his intermediate education from Pakistan Shipowners’ College in Karachi, he became active in student politics and joined the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO), the students’ wing of MQM, then an acronym for Mohajir Qaumi Movement.
His name first appeared on intelligence and security agencies’ radar in 1994, after the killing of two US diplomats at Karachi’s Shahrah-i-Faisal and murder of four workers of an American oil company, Union Texas, near PIDC Bridge.
He was believed to have been arrested from Karachi airport after his arrival from Bangkok; police confirmed his arrest at a press conference on December 11, 1998.
During that press conference, in the presence of the then Karachi DIG, Ameen Qureshi, Saulat Mirza made revelations about his involvement in the murder of scores of innocent people, including several high-profile personalities.
Mirza was initially detained by FIA immigration officials for travelling on a fake identity but was handed over to the then Station House Officer (SHO) of Gulbahar police station, Mohammad Aslam Khan (Chaudhry Aslam), who was also present at the airport on intelligence reports.