KARACHI, Aug 8: A leader of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement was arrested in Landhi in, what police claimed to be, an encounter following the recovery of a pistol and a stolen car.

Police said that a car was signalled to stop in Khurramabad in Landhi police limits. However, the car occupants tried to escape while firing at the police, which ensued exchange of fire. After a brief encounter, the police arrested Zafar Aziz and recovered the stolen car (S-2871) and a TT pistol from his possession. But, the three accomplices of Zafar, identified as Sharif Khan, Ejaz Baboo and Mustafa managed to escape.

SHO Nadir Khan of the Landhi police station said that the car was hijacked a few days back from the same vicinity.

The MQM-H spokesman, however, disputed the police claim and said that Zafar Aziz, member of the party’s central executive committee, had disappeared in Shah Faisal Colony three days back. He said that the party and his family were unaware of his whereabouts for the last three days. The police, he said, had shown his arrest then.

He said that three other party activists, Saleem, Anjum Khan and Sohail Nadeem, had also disappeared some days ago and their whereabouts were still unknown. He expressed fear that either the police had arrested them in fake cases or their life was in extreme danger.