KARACHI: JI itself killing partymen, claims Farooq Sattar
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, June 30: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Thursday alleged that the killing of Jamaat-i-Islami leader Aslam Mujahid was the handiwork of the victim’s own party because “he was about to quit the party and make some disclosures.” The allegation came from the MQM’s deputy convenor Dr Farooq Sattar (MNA) at a news conference held at the Karachi Press Club. He was accompanied by a coordination committee member, Ms Nasreen Jaleel.
Dr Sattar claimed that JI leaders in a meeting had hatched the conspiracy to eliminate Mr Mujahid through the party’s ‘thunder squad’ because he had distanced himself from the leadership owing to differences with it. He further claimed that another JI leader, Dr Athar Qureshi, had also been eliminated by some JI elements.
Dr Sattar named one of the JI leaders who, according to him, had been dealing with the underworld and had masterminded Mr Mujahid’s killing and shifting blame on the MQM.
The allegations came on the day when Judicial Magistrate, Karachi East, Ghulam Farooq Sheikh remanded an ex-police inspector, Anwar Jaffery, in police custody till July 8 for his alleged involvement in kidnapping and killing Aslam Mujahid on May 30.
Dr Farooq Sattar demanded that if any MQM member was involved in the killing of Aslam Mujahid, as alleged by the JI, he should be arrested given exemplary punishment so that conspirators were also exposed. He, nevertheless, said that no MQM member was involved in the crime.
He claimed that the young JI activist Tahir Jamal had also been eliminated by the JI cadre and the killing was blamed on the MQM. According to him, Tahir Jamal had been trapped by the JI several years back and sent to ‘jihad’. When Jamal’s parents pressed the JI leadership for their son’s return home, the party told them on Oct 18, 2001 that their son had embraced martyrdom in Rajori sector, Kashmir. Dr Sattar produced a newspaper clipping of Oct 19, 2001 in support of his claim, and said that JI leaders had even offered Jamal’s namaz-i-janaza but had not handed over the body to his family.
“But when Jamal returned from jihad after some time and revolted against the party leadership, he was eliminated.”
When asked that would not such ‘disclosures’ cast a negative impact on the JI’s participation in the MQM-sponsored APC on a code of conduct for the upcoming local body elections, Dr Sattar said that since the JI had not stopped hurling accusations and since the code of conduct also had not yet been worked out, the MQM felt it necessary to respond to JI’s accusations and prevent it from getting political mileage.
