KARACHI: The whereabouts of four ‘missing’ men, including two workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were still unknown while the party alleged on Thursday that they were in the custody of the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh.

At least 13 friends, including four workers of the MQM, went ‘missing’ on their way to Hyderabad when they were going to attend a marriage ceremony of their friend on Tuesday night, triggering fear and panic among their families.

The relatives, mostly women and children, on Wednesday staged a sit-in on Prof Ghafoor Ahmed Road in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and blocked both ways of the street.

On late Wednesday night, nine young men returned to their homes in Noman Grand City of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, police and the relatives said.

But the whereabouts of the four remaining ‘missing’ persons were still unknown.

Gulshan SP Abid Qaimkhani told Dawn that the police contacted the young men for recording their statement, but they responded that they returned home safely and, at present, did not want to give any statement. He said that four men were still ‘missing’, but their relatives in their application to the Sharea Faisal police station did not blame anyone for their disappearance.

However, the MQM Coordination Committee in a statement said that 13 young men were taken away by the Rangers from their vehicles near Hyderabad. The party claimed that four men were still in the custody of the paramilitary force. They identified them as two workers of the party named Walid Kamal and Shayan Rehman and two supporters, Saad Hashmi and Asad Raza.

The MQM said that two days had passed but the taken away men had not been presented before court nor their arrest had been shown, which the party described as a violation of human rights.

The party asked the prime minister, the interior minister, the chief of the army staff and the chief justice of Pakistan to take measures for early and safe recovery of their workers and supporters.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2015

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