KARACHI: Top Haqiqi men escape arrest as swoop is on
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 18: Rangers and police sealed off Baitul Hamza, the headquarters of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, in Landhi after conducting a raid on Monday but failed to detain the party’s top leadership, a statement of the law enforcement agencies said.
The raid and sealing off of the headquarters drew a sharp reaction from the residents of the area as people, most of them women, staged a protest demonstration in front of Baitul Hamza on Monday night.
A spokesman for the party, Sohail Hashmi, said on Monday: “our party chief Afaq Ahmed and secretary general Amir Khan have not been arrested.” He said over telephone from an undisclosed location that the law enforcement agencies had also sealed off all the unit and sector offices of the party throughout the city besides the headquarters.
He claimed the police had picked up more than 250 party activists from different parts of the city during the night-long raids. He further claimed that the public protest continued on Monday before the law enforcement agencies moved to disperse them and rounded up at least 50 of the protesters.
Although the high-ranking police officials have been denying a large scale crackdown on the MQM (Haqiqi), there were reports of police action and detention of party activists in different parts of the city during the night.
Reliable sources said that raids were conducted on a number of unit and sector offices of the MQM-H in Landhi, Korangi and some other localities before they were sealed off. An unspecified number of Haqiqi activists have been rounded up, the sources said.
The sources believed that the police action was aimed at dismantling the so-called ‘no-go-areas’ in the specific localities of the metropolis and was initiated by the government on the demand put forward by Altaf Hussain, chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
Confirming the police action, the Town Police Officer (TPO), Landhi, Raja Ghous told Dawn: “We have sealed off Baitul Hamza at around 3:30pm on Monday in accordance with the court orders. We had a judicial magistrate, Zabia Khattak, with us who ordered sealing off of the MQM-H headquarters and we acted accordingly.”
The TPO claimed that during the search and sealing off operation at Baitul Hamza, Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan managed to escape with some other party leaders.
He denied arrest of ‘scores of’ MQM-H activists from Landhi but confirmed that one unit office and nine sector offices were sealed off in the area besides the headquarters. He insisted that no activist was arrested in the operation.
The TPO, Korangi, Javed Baloch, said that there were six MQM- H offices — one unit and five sector offices — in his area and all were sealed off as per the authorities’ instructions. However, he added, no arrests were made.
A spokesman for the Rangers said: “We are providing only back-up support to the police in their operation.” He said that rangers did not work under police. “Rangers have a different style of action,” he remarked.
The spokesman also denied having arrested or keeping custody of Afaq Ahmed, Amir Khan or any other MQM-H man.
Meanwhile, residents of the area told this reporter Monday evening that Baitul Hamza had been surrounded by a heavy contingent of the rangers while police were patrolling only the adjacent main roads.
Sources revealed on Monday that the rangers had asked the police to stay away before taking over and sealing off Baitul Hamza. However, they added, police returned in the afternoon to complete the legal formalities, pertaining to the court order, by adding their own seal to the headquarters.
The sources said that the police conducted raids on a number of houses and the party offices in Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Lines Area, Orangi Town, Liaquatabad and other areas. Hundreds of Haqiqi activists were rounded up during the swoop, they claimed adding that recovery of arms and ammunition were not put on record.
Most of the detainees, they said, had been put behind the bars after being booked under sections 151/54 of the CrPC as the declaration of arms recovery had to be avoided.
