KARACHI, Dec 15: Women belonging to the Mohajir Qaumi Movement on Sunday protested against the arrest of MPA Younus Khan and expressed apprehensions that his life was in danger.

They demanded his immediate release, saying without which the democratic dispensation in Sindh would remain a farce.

Speaking at a news conference at Karachi Press Club, they claimed that police used third-degree methods and feared for the MPA’s life.

They alleged that the state had adopted oppressive measures to meet the demand of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement which, they claimed, had threatened the government to part ways if police failed to arrest Younus Khan.

The ladies pointed out that despite the Muttahida’s claim that it was an anti-establishment party, it was supporting the PML-Q which was a creation of the establishment.

The wife of the arrested MPA, Younus Khan, who was also present, with her three children, Hira, Saboor and Aiman, expressed her gratitude to the MPAs of the People’s Party Parliamentarians and the MMA.

Younus Khan’s children appealed to the government to release their father, or at least permit them to meet him. The MQM women demanded of the government to immediately suspend those police officers who allegedly tortured Younus Khan.

The wives of the chairman, Afaq Ahmed, and the secretary-general, Amir Khan, of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, and other party leaders and workers were also present on the occasion.

Later, the ladies staged a peaceful protest demonstration outside the press club and chanted slogans against the arrest of Younus Khan and other party workers.

Afaq Ahmed has condemned the government for the arrest of his party’s MPA, Younus Khan, inside the Sindh Assembly through the alleged use of brute force by the state machinery.

He also deplored the siege of the Sindh Assembly and preventing more than 70 MPAs from leaving the premises, and said the act “is naked use of authority to deprive the Mohajirs of their due rights.”

He alleged that all that happened on Saturday within the assembly had been done to meet the demands of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

He said this was regrettable because the government claimed to be clean and neutral. “But the events has proved that it is not,” he said.

“The manner in which the sanctity of the assembly and the rule of law was trampled with speaks volumes for the regimes’ real intentions and agenda,” he added.

He paid praised the PPP and the MMA for showing solidarity with Younus Khan.