June 16, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 11, 1429

MIRPURKHAS, June 15: Violent protests broke out in the city over the death of a supporter of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional in police custody early on Sunday.

Enraged protesters lit bonfires by torching tyres on the roads, hurled stones at police mobiles and forced shopkeepers to close their businesses after police brought to Civil Hospital the dead body of Ahmed Khan Dal, 40, barely over an hour after arresting him from his farmland.

Eyewitness said that police struck him with butts of rifles at the time of his arrest and kept torturing him in the mobile. Somehow, he managed to jump down from the mobile and escape near Sabzi Mandi but was caught again.

Barely over an hour after the arrest, police brought his body to Civil Hospital, they said.

Hundreds of protesters led by PML-F nazim of Old Mirpur union council, Ghulam Mohammad Shah alias Babu Shah, who was a close friend of Ahmed Khan Dal, reached the hospital.On the nazim’s insistence Civil Surgeon Dr Roshan Ali Bhatti set up a medical board comprising additional civil surgeon Dr Ishtiaque Ahmed, Dr Jawaharlal, Dr Ali Gohar Kalhoro and Dr Mohammad Waris to conduct post-mortem. The body was handed over to relatives after autopsy.

Mirpurkhas DPO Mazhar Nawaz Shaikh suspended the SHO of Town police station Mohammad Ayoub Dars, ASI Roshan Leghari, constables Qasim Narejo, Zulfiqar Baloch, Zulfiqar Soomro and driver Nawaz Narejo and appointed SPO of Sindhri Khalid Shah to conduct probe into the extra-judicial killing.

The nazim said that police arrested his friend from his farmland at 6 am and brought his body to Civil Hospital at around 7.15 am. Ahmed Dal was murdered in police custody, he said.

Police had come after Dal under an FIR lodged at Town police station at 3.30 am on Sunday on the complaint of Ghulam Haider Narejo, accusing Dal of a theft incident that took place about three years ago.

According to reports, the complainant Ghulam Haider Narejo was arrested three years ago on charges of killing the nazim’s driver, Mohammad Soomar Maher. He was reportedly released after paying Qisas to the heirs of Soomar Maher.

The DPO said that a case would be lodged in light of post-mortem report.

Local leaders of PML-F Inamuddin Pirzada, Malik Allahdin, Basheer Ahmed Arain and Saeed Ahmed Hashmi condemned police for torturing their party worker to death and demanded that the PPO and RPO of Hyderabad should ensure arrest of the police officials involved in the murder and register a case against them.

Mohammad Akbar Panhwar, spokesman for Mirpurkhas chapter of Pakistan People’s Party, said that police had arrested a criminal who died of cardiac arrest in their custody but some so-called leaders were dragging the dead body into their politics and creating law and order situation.