KARACHI, May 30: Police on Friday picked up 19 more activists of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement for their alleged criminal activities.

A spokesman for the MQM-H said that four party leaders went missing from an election office in Landhi after a police raid.

He said a member of the party’s central executive committee, Feroz Haider, members of its Karachi Committee Raees Ahmed and Azhar Usman, and a member of the Landhi sector committee, Wazeer Hussain Naqvi, had reached an area in Landhi to inspect the central election office set up in connection with the byelection for NA-255. Two members of the elder committee, Fasihuddin and Raza Haider Abidi, and a sector-in-charge of Nazimabad, Nadeem Siddiqui, were also present at the newly-established central election office, where the police raided and picked up the elder members and Nadeem Siddiqui.

The spokesman said the witnesses failed to notice whether the police took the four leaders away with them. However, since the raid, the four had gone missing and their whereabouts remained unknown, he added.

He said the police raided the houses of party activists in Malir, Shah Faisal Colony, Liaquatabad and Korangi and arrested 16 activists. The police did not disclose the whereabouts of those picked up on Friday, and their families were worrying about them.

A senior police official disputed the claim about the arrest and said the police did not arrest any activist affiliated with the MQM-H. He also declined having raided the MQM’s central election office in Landhi. However, he said some suspects were picked up on suspicion of their involvement in criminal activities and some of them were released after questioning.

Residents, however, said Landhi appeared to be calm on Friday but they feared a major shift in the political scenario of the area. They said the area people did not want to take part in the election activities as they could not openly favour any of the factions.

“We are living in an extremely terrifying atmosphere where things are not clear. We want peace as we are fed up with the politics of bloodshed,” a resident of Landhi said.