HYDERABAD: The locked house of an expelled Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist was partially burnt in an alleged attack in the early hours of Thursday following the recent murder of another MQM activist.

The house belonged to Ms Bano, the mother of Aqeel Qureshi, who was expelled from the MQM in 2013 and killed in a clash with some armed men on Jan 31, 2014 over some petty issue.

An MQM activist, Furqan Seema, was nominated as the suspected killer of Qureshi. However, Irfan Ali aka Guddu lodged a case against Jamil Qureshi, the father of the deceased, for falsely implicating Furqan Seema in the case. He also named Qureshi’s two sons, Azeem and Shakeel, as well as the latter’s friend, Zubair, in the complaint. The two sides reached an out-of-court settlement and Furqan was acquitted by court after his family paid blood money to Aqeel’s heirs.

However, Furqan Seema was killed in Mumtaz Colony last Tuesday and the house of Aqeel’s mother in Shah Faisal Colony was burnt on Thursday.

Makki Shah police have already picked up Azeem and obtained his three-day remand from a court.

Furqan was an employee of the health department and was briefly expelled from the MQM in the mid-90s.

Furqan’s family believes that Shakeel killed him to avenge his brother’s murder.

Ms Bano and her daughter Ms Najma told journalists outside the local press club that Guddu, Bali, Qurban, Basharat Ali and four unidentified men broke into their locked house, took away Rs3 million in cash, 10 tolas of gold, one gold set and four gold bangles and also smashed dowry and other goods kept inside before setting it on fire.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2015

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