HYDERABAD, May 22: The body of Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) Secretary General Muzaffar Bhutto, who has been missing for about three months, was found on Tuesday in Chalgari area.

Mr Bhutto had allegedly been picked up by intelligence agencies. His body had two bullet wounds. Police were informed by some villagers about the body lying on a road.

The body was taken to civil hospital’s morgue. Chalgari police claimed to have found the national identity card and service card of one Ameer Ali, son of Mohammad Alam, in a pocket of the dress the deceased was wearing. Senior Medico-Legal Officer, Dr Hotumal, performed an autopsy. The body was later identified as that of Muzaffar Bhutto by members of his family.

Muzaffar Bhutto’s brother Sikandar and wife Saima said they rushed to the hospital after hearing about an unclaimed body of a power house employee kept in the mortuary.

“Since my brother served in the power house, I feared that it might be his body,” Mr Sikandar Bhutto said.

Dr Niaz Kalani, acting chairman of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), who was present at the hospital along with his supporters, declared that the murder was a continuation of the state repression of people who wanted liberation of Sindh.

“If they think they can subdue us with such tactics, they are mistaken,” Mr Kalani told journalists outside the mortuary.

He said the JSQM would support any peaceful protest announced by the JSMM leadership.

He said that Murtaza Chandio, Sanaullah Bhatti, Afzal Panhwar, Faqir Najeeb Qureshi, Ayaz Jamali and Asif Bhutto had been missing for a long time. Ms Saima Bhutto recalled how she had been protesting for the release of her husband.

“He died while struggling for the independence of Sindh. I had apprehensions that he might suffer this fate,” said the widow who has two daughters and a son. She had been fighting a legal battle for the recovery of her husband for several months and regularly held protest sits-in outside Hyderabad Press Club, along with her children.

According to the family, Mr Muzaffar Bhutto was earlier picked up by intelligence agencies in 2005 and released a year later.

He was again picked up on Feb 25 this year. Ms Saima Bhutto filed a constitutional petition for the recovery of her husband and the hearing was fixed for May 23.

His other brother Mumtaz Bhutto also died in mysterious circumstances in Jamshoro  on July 1, 2009.