KARACHI, Dec 28: An activist of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement died in mysterious circumstances in Central Prison Karachi on Saturday.

Prison sources said Mohammed Khurshid, aged 42, complained of pain in his chest and was shifted to the prison’s hospital where he died. The body was sent to Civil Hospital for autopsy.

The Khokhrapar police claimed that they picked up Khurshid on Dec 13 and sent him to jail under the MPO on Dec 17. Police denied subjecting him to torture during the custody. They said the delay in sending the detainee to the jail was caused due to legal formalities.

A spokesman for the MQM-H, however, said Khurshid was picked up on Dec 13 at his house No A-56 in Zamanabad, Landhi No 4, and was shifted to Khokhrapar police station. He had been kept there since Dec 13 and was subjected to severe torture, the spokesman claimed.

He said since police failed to find any criminal case against Khurshid, they shifted him to Central Prison Karachi on Saturday morning under the MPO after his condition deteriorated in the police station.

“Khurshid, father of five, three sons and two daughters, and a senior worker of the party, died of police torture,” the spokesman said.

He said police and Rangers had surrounded Khurshid’s house in Landhi after his death, and he claimed that they were asking probing questions from those visiting Khurshid’s residence to offer condolence, which had created an atmosphere of fear in the area.

He claimed since the operation against the MQM-H was launched in November more than 1,200 party activists had been picked up by law-enforcement agencies. Raids were continuing on party activists’ houses and other places, he said.

When this report was filed around 10pm, the body was in the prison’s hospital and was not shifted to Civil Hospital for post-mortem examination.

CARJACKING: Eighteen vehicles — eight cars and 10 motorcycles — were either hijacked or stolen in the city on Saturday, police sources said.