Extra-judicial Killings__Not A Sheer Incitement To Violence?

“Until Dehlavi was alive, we were hardened criminals and were accused of being involved in the Baldia factory fire and other crimes. If they were right, why did they release us now?”  (http://tribune.com.pk/story/897623/three-police-officials-suspended-over-mqm-workers-death/)

These words were of the brother of MQM`s worker Waseem Dehlavi who was tortured to death by the Karachi police personnel in their custody. Adil was arrested along with the deceased Waseem from his house by the plain dressed police men a couple of days ago.

 Adil, like his brother, was also accused of being involved in various crimes especially the Baldia factory fire incident in which over 200 people got burnt to death. He too faced the police torture in the name of investigation. However, when his brother (Waseem) could not bear the inhuman torture and died in the custody, he was released immediately to defuse the people`s anger. Legally speaking, Adil rightly asked that if he was involved in any crime, as per the allegations of police, why he was released without proving him criminal in the court.

It has been a customary that first seize and search operations are conducted in Karachi in which exclusively MQM workers are arrested and soon their “confessions” are released to the Pakistani media. In these “confessional statements”, the arrested people not only “own” almost all kinds of severe crimes, but also name MQM`s office bearers and leaders for being behind the same. Then, there starts a new campaign of targeted actions by LEA`s against especially the named people. And of course, one more “confession” of the named person is required for endorsing the charges and the resulted actions against them. Since these confessions are recorded after torture, the accused altogether disown their in-custody statements when they appear before the judges. The mutilated dead bodies of MQM`s workers who lost their lives in this evil process are the reflection of brutality they had to pass through after arrest.

(Postmortem report of MQM`s worker Waseem Dehlavi)

MQM`s extra-judicially killed worker Wassem and two of his brother also became the victim of the same campaign which started from a “confession” of an already arrested MQM worker about the Baldia factory fire incident. As per a JIT (Join Interrogation Team of different LEA`s agencies) report, the MQM worker “confessed” that he heard someone saying that the factory was set on fire deliberately over the dispute of extortion (i.e., neither he himself did that nor did he witness anyone else doing that). Question is can such an accusation, arrest, torture and even a custodial death have any justification which is itself based on an in-custody confession taken through torture by the Police or Rangers?

No doubt, it was Waseem`s custodial death that not only saved his brother (Adil)`s life, but also politically pressurized the Police men to set him free. Otherwise, either he would have been reading an already written statement as his confession, or, perhaps, would have been extra-judicially killed like his brother.

Considering all these, it emerges that the accusations from Police and Rangers and their actions in Karachi are merely based on confessions of the arrested people instead of concrete and reliable proofs/evidences. Their investigations begin from one confession and end at the other which leaves the impression that the in-custody confessions are deliberately recorded and released to the media to justify the actions that the Pakistani law-enforcement agencies have already planned against MQM and its leadership. That is the reason all the operations launched in Karachi since 80`s have failed completely despite having spent huge amount of money and having (extra-judicially) killed thousands of alleged “killers”.

In fact, if the Pakistani law-enforcement agencies really want to curb the crimes in Karachi, first of all, they will have to politically and politically neutralize themselves as only an impartial and honest investigation can lead to the real culprits. Then, they will not need to torture anyone for the sake of getting a required confession. This will almost end the increasing custodial deaths in the city. 
In contrast to it, the in-custody confessions got through torture in order to justify the actions against specific people, will act like an incitement to retaliation or violence which can bring about another human tragedy like in 1971 in Dhaka. May God keep the people and the country safe!