Sindh court seeks police report on missing MQM workers

Karachi: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday sought police reports on nine missing activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) by next month, when the court resumes the case hearing.

The MQM had filed a petition in the provincial court accusing law enforcement agencies of illegally rounding up the party workers leading to their disappearance. The party pleaded for the court’s intervention to secure the safe release of its workers from illegal detention whereupon the Sindh High Court ordered the police to furnish a detailed report about the missing MQM workers by July 3.

The MQM also raised the issue with the Pakistan People’s Party when officials from that party visited the MQM headquarters to invite the party to join the provincial government.

The issue of forced disappearances has come into renewed focus in recent weeks after an MQM activist’s body was found on the eastern outskirts of Karachi. The worker’s plight prompted the MQM to call a strike in the province.

Meanwhile, the MQM’s leader in exile Altaf Hussain alleged that paramilitary troopers, police and other law enforcement agencies had been picking up children, sometimes even when their parents were present with them.

Hussain questioned whether parents who had been subjected to such anguish could maintain their loyalty to the country.

He said that ordinary people were not the enemies of any security force and called for negotiations to sort out any outstanding disputes.

The MQM chief also advised the party to hold a referendum on whether it should join the PPP government in the province. In a telephonic address from London, Hussain advised his party leaders to hold a referendum within three days so that the next strategy could be evolved.