KARACHI: A Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist, who worked in the city’s fire brigade department and was recently arrested and sent to prison in a case pertaining to May 12, 2007 violence, was on Sunday died at the Civil Hospital under controversial circumstances.
While his party claimed that it was a case of extrajudicial killing by “the Malir police”, SSP-Malir Rao Anwar told Dawn that Mehmood Khan was remanded in judicial custody six days ago and he was a diabetic patient and “suffering from foot injury” complications.
On Sunday night, Inspector General of Police A. D. Khowaja ordered a probe into the death of suspect Mehmood, who was picked up in North Karachi on Aug 11 by Malir police, and appointed DIG-East Dr Kamran Fazal as the inquiry officer, asking him to submit a detailed report at the earliest.
No details were available as to why Mr Khan was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi.
Dr Mubarak Pathan, a medico-legal officer at the CHK, said all he knew was that he was brought to the hospital around ‘four-five days ago’, he got admitted in a medical ward where he expired on Sunday.
He said that he was told that the family in a written application addressed to the area magistrate and given to a jail official stated that they did not want a post-mortem examination to be carried out. The family took away the body, he added.
Terming it an extrajudicial killing, Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan said: “Today, we are not protesting but making a appeal to Sindh chief minister and IG police take notice of the incident and to rein in a few policemen who had created a reign of terror.”
“Today when the whole country was teaching us how to raise Long Live Pakistan slogan, we are practcally demonstrating our love for Pakistan by not pointing finger at the whole police department and by not making controversial the state institutions,” he added.
He said that it was his party’s legal right to raise voice against “extrajudicial killings of our workers” as such killings were pushing one particular community against the wall.
Khawja Izhar said that the slain worker was arrested on Aug 11 by the Malir police and it was alleged that he was involved in May 12 incidents.
Meanwhile, SSP-Malir Rao Anwar said that the Airport police arrested the suspect and got twice his physical remand by the administrative judge of the antiterrorism court. The same judge sent him to prison on judicial remand, he added.
He said that despite passing several days the MQM did not level any allegation of torture against him.
He said that the suspect was first employed in the Sindh police and was dismissed from services in 1992. His services were restored in 2005 and then he was posted at the Azizabad police station.
The SSP claimed that in addition to his job in police suspect Mehmood was also recruited in the fire brigade department. He said that he was arrested before in two murder cases and was also involved in other crimes.
Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016
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