Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that with the commencement of “Karachi Targeted Operation” against the target killers, extortionists and terrorists, a new phase of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings has been introduced in the name of maintaining law and order and peace. During the seven months of its operation, according to the police and Rangers, 17,000 persons were arrested but government has failed to make public the whereabouts of such arrestees. A political party, MQM, claims that 25 activist members were extrajudicially killed and 45 workers are missing after their arrest during the last seven months. The media reports that during the period more than 200 persons were extrajudicially killed.
CASE NARRATIVE:
The federal government has started an operation in Karachi, the capital of Sindh, under the title: “Karachi Targeted Operation” with the support of the police and Pakistan Rangers. The operation, which commenced on September 5, 2013, is supposedly against the increase in targeted killings, extortion, kidnappings and incidents of terrorism including bomb blasts. The Pakistan Rangers has been given powers of arrest and detention of the suspects including permission to shoot on sight. The operation has mainly focused on Lyari, the Baloch dominated area and one ethnic political party. For further information, please see our earlier statement: AHRC-STM-238-2013 titled “PAKISTAN: Whereabouts of 9,120 arrestees from Karachi remain unknown“.
The authorities in Sindh province have not yet come out with an explanation to reveal where such a large number of detainees are kept and why their whereabouts have not been made public. It is reported in the newspapers that only 729 persons out of a total of 17,000 persons were sent to two prisons in Karachi but the whereabouts of the remaining arrestees are unknown.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a political party with a sizeable number of parliamentarians has been regularly pointing out the extrajudicial killings of its workers and supporters who were arrested, forcibly made to disappeared, brutally tortured, killed and their bodies dumped in and around the city.
During the evening of 13 April 2014, according to the MQM, members of the lethal ‘Death Squad’ arrested and forcibly took away ten workers and supporters of the MQM from the Country Tower Apartments in the Gulshan-e-Maymar area of Karachi. The security guard on duty taking them to be dacoits challenged them and opened fire during which one plain-clothed member of the Death Squad was injured. The members of the ‘Death Squad’ returned fire and took the security guard into custody.
The MQM says that immediately after that incident, two vehicles belong to the Para-Military Rangers appeared on the scene and provided full cover to the plain-clothed people in Vigo vehicles, the four wheels jeeps, and instead of taking action against them. This allowed them to forcibly take away 10 innocent people from the scene.
According to the eye witnesses, all the arrested persons were taken to a Rangers Check Post at Sohrab Goth, Super High Way in Karachi. From some other double cabin vehicle, a masked man identified six workers and office bearers of the MQM from the rest of the ten supporters, the plain-clothed people dropped the remaining four supporters at some other point and let them go.
Since then the MQM has been writing to all those who matter for the whereabouts, safe recovery and wellbeing of their members but all their correspondence fell on deaf ears. As a result of which of the tortured and mutilated bodies of four out of the six arrestees were dumped in the Memon Goth area of Karachi on 30 Apri, 2014.
The deceased were identified as (i) Faizan son of Syed Qamar Uddin, (ii) Ali Haider son of Muhammad Yousuf, (iii) Sameed son of Anis and (iv) Salman Qureshi son of Mushtaq Qureshi (Salman was also a worker of APMSO the student wing of MQM.
Two party workers, Sohaib and Ziaur Rehman are still missing and have not been produced in any court of Law. It is feared that they are also being subjected to torture and that one day, soon, their mutilated bodies will also be found, dumped on the road side.
The MQM has been reporting these incidents regularly to all concerned but so far there is no letup and respite. The only thing that will help to rein in the state actors, and whoever else is involved in these brutal killings is an independent monitoring system.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
A former federal minister for human rights and the Chairman of Ansar Burney Trust International, Mr. Ansar Burney has urged the federal and Sindh governments to disclose the whereabouts of nearly 14,000 missing persons arrested in the last seven months during the Karachi operation. He said, as per Karachi police reports submitted in the National Assembly, almost 14,000 people were arrested, but no records are available, while more than 200 have been killed in suspicious and reportedly extrajudicial killings during the last seven months. Burney said that during the last seven months of the operation, nearly 14,000 persons were arrested on several charges but. As reported, the two jails in Karachi have received only 700 suspects. The question is where are the rest of thousands missing after their arrest in Karachi? He said the police have not mentioned the whereabouts of the remaining 13,000 arrested persons.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities calling on them to stop the illegal and unconstitutional practices of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in custody. Please urge them to produce all the arrested persons before a court of law if they committed any crime or release them immediately, constitute a commission to probe the incidents of large numbers of disappearances and continuous practice of extra judicial killings in the custody, prosecute the responsible officials of Pakistan Rangers and police for disappearing arrested persons.
The AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions, and UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances calling for their intervention into this matter.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ……………..,
PAKISTAN: Government must stop the disappearances and extra judicial killings in Karachi
Name of victims:
1. Mr. Faizan, son of Syed Qamar Uddin
2. Mr. Ali Haider, son of Muhammad Yousuf
3. Mr. Sameed, son of Anis, and
4. Mr. Salman Qureshi, son of Mushtaq Qureshi (Salman was also a worker of APMSO the student wing of MQM and more than 16,000 others.
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Sindh police
2. Pakistan Rangers, stationed at Karachi
Date of incident: 5 September 2013 to this date
Place of incident: Karachi, Sindh province
I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding missing of more than 16000 persons and killing of more than 200 persons extra judicially in Karachi, the capital city of Sindh province.
I am shocked to know that during the seven months of “Karachi Operation” against the target killers, extortionists and terrorist, a new phase of enforced disappearances and extra judicial killings has been introduced in the name of maintaining law and order and peace. During the seven months of operation, according to the police and Rangers, 17000 persons were arrested but government has failed to make public the whereabouts of such big numbers. A political party, MQM, claims that its 25 activists are extra judicially killed and 45 workers are missing after their arrest during last seven months. The media reports that during the period more than 200 persons were extra judicially killed.
The federal government started an operation in Karachi, the capital of Sindh, under the title: “Karachi Targeted Operation” with the support of the police and Pakistan Rangers. The operation, which commenced on September 5, 2013, is supposedly against the increase in targeted killings, extortion, kidnappings and incidents of terrorism including bomb blasts. The Pakistan Rangers has been given powers of arrest and detention of the suspects including permission to shoot on sight. The operation has mainly focused on Lyari, the Baloch dominated area and one ethnic political party. For further information please see our earlier statement: PAKISTAN: Whereabouts of 9,120 arrestees from Karachi remain unknown.
The authorities in Sindh province have not yet come out with an explanation to reveal where such a large number of detainees are kept and why their whereabouts have not been made public. It is reported in the newspapers that only 729 persons out of a total of 17,000 persons were sent to two prisons in Karachi but the whereabouts of the remaining arrestees are unknown.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a political party with a sizeable number of parliamentarians has been regularly pointing out the extrajudicial killings of its workers and supporters who were arrested, forcibly made to disappeared, brutally tortured, killed and their bodies dumped in and around the city.
During the evening of 13 April 2014, according to the MQM, members of the lethal ‘Death Squad’ arrested and forcibly took away ten workers and supporters of the MQM from the Country Tower Apartments in the Gulshan-e-Maymar area of Karachi. The security guard on duty taking them to be dacoits challenged them and opened fire during which one plain-clothed member of the Death Squad was injured. The members of the ‘Death Squad’ returned fire and took the security guard into custody.
I have learned that the MQM says that immediately after that incident, two vehicles belong to the Para-Military Rangers appeared on the scene and provided full cover to the plain-clothed people in Vigo vehicles, the four wheels jeeps, and instead of taking action against them. This allowed them to forcibly take away 10 innocent people from the scene.
According to the eye witnesses, all the arrested persons were taken to a Rangers Check Post at Sohrab Goth, Super High Way in Karachi. From some other double cabin vehicle, a masked man identified six workers and office bearers of the MQM from the rest of the ten supporters, the plain-clothed people dropped the remaining four supporters at some other point and let them go.
Since then the MQM has been writing to all those who matter for the whereabouts, safe recovery and wellbeing of their members but all their correspondence fell on deaf ears. As a result of which of the tortured and mutilated bodies of four out of the six arrestees were dumped in the Memon Goth area of Karachi on 30 Apri, 2014.
Sadly, the deceased were identified as (i) Faizan son of Syed Qamar Uddin, (ii) Ali Haider son of Muhammad Yousuf, (iii) Sameed son of Anis and (iv) Salman Qureshi son of Mushtaq Qureshi (Salman was also a worker of APMSO the student wing of MQM.
Two party workers, Sohaib and Ziaur Rehman are still missing and have not been produced in any court of Law. It is feared that they are also being subjected to torture and that one day, soon, their mutilated bodies will also be found, dumped on the road side.
The MQM has been reporting these incidents regularly to all concerned but so far there is no letup and respite. The only thing that will help to rein in the state actors, and whoever else is involved in these brutal killings is an independent monitoring system.
I urge you to ensure the recovery of the more than 16,000 persons who were arrested during the operation, as according to official sources. These people must be immediately brought before a court of law. Furthermore, officers in charge of the Police and Pakistan Rangers must be prosecuted for keeping thousands of arrested persons in illegal custody and extrajudicially killing them in fake encounters.
It is the sole responsibility of the government of Pakistan to either release the arrested persons or reveal their whereabouts. If, indeed, there are viable charges to be laid against them they must be produced in court immediately. It must be asked why the government of a democratic country is arrogantly ignoring the laws of the land and the international norms.
I await your urgent attention to this matter.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Mamnoon Hussain
President of Pakistan
President’s Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 51 9204801, +92 51 9214171
Fax: +92 51 9207458
Email: publicmail@president.gov.pk
2 .Mr. Mian Nawaz Sharif
Prime Minister
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1596
Tel: +92 51 920 6111
E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk or pspm@pmsectt.gov.pk
3. Mr. Pervz Rasheed
Federal Minister of Law and Human Rights
Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights
Old US Aid building
Ata Turk Avenue
G-5, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 9204108
Email: contact@molaw.gov.pk
4. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan
Federal Minister for Interior
R Block, Pak Secretariat
Islamabad (Pakistan)
Tele : 0092-51-9212026
Fax: 0092-51-9202624
Email: interior.complaintcell@gmail.com or ministry.interior@gmail.com
5. Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Chief Minister
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 2000
Email: pressecy@cmsindh.gov.pk
6. Additional Chief Secretary (Home)
Tughlaq House
Sindh Secretariat
Government of Sindh
Karachi, Sindh province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 99211549
Email: secretary@home.gos.pk
7. Dr. Faqir Hussain
Registrar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 9213452
Email: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk
8. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar, Karachi
Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213220
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
