Three of the arrested men are said to be affiliated with MQM
Sindh Rangers on Friday raided the Karachi University and took five officials from the varsity’s administration block into custody.
Masked men of the paramilitary force entered the KU administration block and arrested budget office clerk Zeeshan Amin alias Shaan, audit office member Naveed Siddiqui, Dr Mehmood Hussain, library assistant Shamshad Alam and accounts official Zohaib. Three among the five detained people are said to be associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The arrest has dampened the university’s environment where the annual convocation is scheduled to be held on Saturday (today).
KU Campus Security Adviser Prof Dr Khalid Iraqi told Pakistan Today that Rangers did not take the administration into confidence before raiding the varsity\s admin block.
KU Campus Officer Muhammad Asif said that he and some senior officials were present at the admin block but the Rangers stopped them from entering the building until the completion of the raid.
Zeeshan Amin was previously arrested along with three other workers of MQM Scheme-33 Unit on May 20, but he was released within a fortnight of detention.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Sindh Rangers spokesman Major Sibtain said that he had no details of the arrest made by the paramilitary force in KU.
“I will share the details with you as soon as the raiding party informs us about purpose of the raid and the involvement of the detainees in crimes,” the spokesman added.
Meanwhile, the family members of the detained employees staged a sit-in at the entrance of the new administration block and demanded immediate release of their loved ones. Later on, they went to homes of the varsity high-ups.
In a raid conducted three days ago, Rangers had picked up Shehzad Pervaiz, Deputy Registrar Establishment, and shifted him to an unknown location.
Some senior KU employees said that the raid was conducted to investigate the murders of varsity’s students which occurred back in 2007-08. However, they clarified that they have solid information about the raid as Rangers high command did not share any information with them in this regard.
In 2007-08, Ramesh from Computer Science Department, who was said to be an All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO) activist and Osama Bin Adam, an Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) activist and student of Computer Science Department and another IJT activist, Abdul Jabbar, student of Political Science Department lost their lives during the clash. Both parties had filed FIRs against each other.