The gruesome extra-judicial killings of three Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party workers in Pakistan have left people in sheer horror as their tortured bodies were recovered from different parts of Sindh province.
Missing MQM activists — Irfan Basarat, Abid Abbasi and Waseem Akhtar aka Rajo were killed extra-judicially on Wednesday. Apparently, all three were in the custody of Paramilitary Rangers. Their tortured bodies were dumped in different areas of Sindh. Notably, the MQM leaders had been missing for several years after being arrested by Paramilitary Rangers.
Paramilitary Rangers is an organization of the Pakistan Army whose sector and area commander is an army captain or major rank officer. In the last 12 hours, people are deeply saddened by the extrajudicial killing of three MQM workers.
According to the details, Irfan Basarat Siddiqui son of Basarat Hasan Siddiqui belonged to PIB Colony in Karachi. He was arrested from his house in 2017. When his sister filed a petition in the Sindh High Court for the arrest and enforced disappearance of Basrat, she was threatened by the Rangers. The Rangers warned her not to mention their name in the FIR otherwise else she must be ready to face serious consequences.
However, she refused to concede to them following which her brother Imran Basrat was also arrested by the Rangers. Basarat’s family keeps visiting the court for many years and tried to find out the whereabouts of Irfan Basarat but failed to get justice.
On Wednesday tortured body of Irfan Basarat was thrown in the Shahpur chakar area of Shahdad pur city of Sanghar district of Sindh. Marks of brutal torture were evident on his whole body. Irfan Basarat Shaheed belonged to the MQM PIB Colony sector. His mother has also a worker of MQM.
Another missing senior worker of MQM, Abid Abbasi son of Deen Muhammad Abbasi was arrested from his house in the Gulistan Johar area of Karachi on January 16, 2016, by law enforcement agencies.
Abid Abbasi’s family filed a petition in the Sindh High Court against his enforced disappearance. For many years, they went around the court for his recovery, but they did not get justice. On Wednesday, Abid Abbasi was also killed extra-judicially and his tortured body was thrown in the area of Nawabshah district of Sindh.
The tortured body of MQM’s third activist Waseem Akhtar alias Raju was found on the side of the road in Mirpurkhas city of Sindh on Wednesday. Waseem Akhtar son of Mohammed Abbas was arrested on April 8, 2017 from Orangi Town in Karachi.
His family also filed a petition in the Sindh High Court, but the Court put his petition in cold storage and on Wednesday his tortured body was found on the side of the road in Mirpurkhas. During the last 12 hours, three missing workers of MQM were brutally killed extra-judicially.
The Central Coordination Committee of MQM strongly condemned the extrajudicial killings of the missing workers in the strongest terms and termed these killings as genocide of the Mohajir nation and the continuation of serious violations of human rights.
While conducting a video briefing at the MQM International Secretariat in London, the members of the Coordination Committee said that if any charge was against MQM workers, they would have been brought to the court of law and given the right to get justice, but for many years, MQM workers were subjected to inhumane torture during custody. After making the extrajudicial killings, the constitutional, legal and human rights of the Mohajirs are being seriously violated.
They said that the genocide of Mohajirs is being done. They demanded the genocide to be stopped and all the missing and captive workers should be released immediately and state operations and state atrocities should be stopped.
Meanwhile, MQM USA held a protest in front of the Pakistan High Commission in the capital city of Washington DC. Participants protested against the extra-judicial killings of three MQM workers, set ablaze and demolished MQM head office Nine Zero in Karachi and the enforced disappearance of former MQM Member of Parliament Nisar Panhwar.