At least five officials of the paramilitary Rangers force were arrested on Tuesday in connection with death of Aftab Ahmed –coordinator of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Farooq Sattar – under the custody of Sindh Rangers.
Sources in Sindh Rangers said that the incident of Aftab Ahmed’s death was regrettable which they added will be thoroughly investigated. They said that the five Rangers officials were arrested after an initial investigation against them. The officials’ physical remand would also be taken if deemed necessary, they added.
The Rangers sources said that the code of conduct was badly violated in the custodial death of Aftab Ahmed. The development comes after the orders of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif to investigate the unfortunate incident. The probe was immediately kicked off after suspending the suspected Rangers officials in the wake of the army chief’s orders.
Ahmed had died the second day after the paramilitary force, which enjoys special policing powers of taking suspects into 90-day custody without arrest warrants in Karachi, took him into its custody on physical remand.
Ahmed was arrested by the Rangers three days before his death earlier this month. A local court had handed over his custody to the paramilitary force for questioning. His postmortem report revealed that approximately 35 to 40 per cent of the body surface was found congested due to multiple bruises. Immediately, after Ahmed’s death, the chief of army staff (COAS) ordered an investigation to ascertain the cause of death and find out the truth for justice to be done. Earlier, the Rangers had constituted a committee to determine the cause of accused’s death. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also directed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to contact the Sindh government as well as the military authorities for a judicial inquiry into the death.
