KARACHI: In a raid conducted during the early hours of Monday, Rangers personnel briefly laid siege to the residence of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) deputy convener and MNA Dr Farooq Sattar, DawnNews reported.

In a press conference held outside his residence shortly after the incident, Sattar confirmed that a raid had taken place at his home but that he had "no prior knowledge". He said that after the removal of a security camp outside his house, he was left "unprotected".

The MQM leader said that a licensed 9mm pistol was also seized from his security guard.

Later speaking to Dawn, he said that his security camp had been “ransacked” and his guards were removed without any indication of what security forces were looking for.

“They came on some 20 motorbikes at around 2am and stayed for about 30 minutes,” he said. He added that while he did not come into contact with the Rangers himself, he was informed of the incident by an attendant, after which he looked out a window and saw Rangers on both ends of the street.

“The worst part is that I am left without any security. My police mobile leaves at night and this security camp outside my house is my only protection at night. My party ministers just visited and left a few guards at my house temporarily.”

“They [Rangers] even went to the houses of my neighbours and kicked the doors. One or two of the doors broke and they forcibly entered the homes of ordinary citizens who have no connection with my party.”

He said that residents Kashif and Asif were taken away, while an MQM worker Rao Shamshad was also taken into custody.

“What have these ordinary citizens done to anyone?” he said, in a telephone conversation with Dawn. “They don’t have anything to do with this.”

He said that there was no indication from the Rangers of what they were searching for, and said that if they had communicated it to him he would have appealed to residents to let them freely search the neighbourhood.

'No warrant’

"No search warrant was presented during the operation," the MQM leader said, adding that the Sindh government and Corps Commander Karachi should take notice of the incident. He also said he was trying to establish contact with the Director General of Sindh Rangers.

"I contacted the DG Rangers but he did not answer his phone. I have left messages with the concerned individuals that this is a most unfortunate incident," the MQM leader said.

However, the recently passed Pakistan Protection Act (PPA), in its Clause 3 (c), allows law enforcing agencies to enter and search without warrant any premises, to make arrest or recover firearms, explosives, vehicles and other instruments.

Moreover, hours after the raid, Rangers spokesman Major Sibtain Rizvi said Sattar's house had not been raided and Rangers were in the locality to arrest men suspected of target killing and taking extortion.

The MQM's central coordination committee has informed their party chief Altaf Hussain about the incident.

Also read: MQM conveys reservations over Karachi operation to Nisar

A Rangers led operation was announced in Karachi in September 2013 during which several suspected militants and criminals have been detained or killed in what law enforcement agencies (LEAs) claim are encounters.

MQM recently protested in the national and provincial assemblies that its workers had been killed by Rangers extra-judicially, while Rangers officials denied such allegations.

MQM party chief Altaf Hussain had earlier decided to write an open letter to Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif about “extrajudicial killings of Urdu-speaking innocent workers of the MQM by Rangers, their arrests and torture” during the Karachi operation.

— Atika Rehman contributed in reporting this story