Recently, the Pakistani media, based on the
press release from the Rangers, reported that the MQM`s election cell member Umair Siddiqui was
recognized by a witness in the murder of a Rangers personnel killed in December
2010 (near the same area where the religious extremists attacked and killed 45
Ismaili Muslims).
According to the Rangers, Umair was arrested on March 11
during the raid at MQM`s head office, Azizabad. Rangers further claimed that he
had confessed many crimes including the murder of MQM`s leader Amir Khan`s
nephew, Baldia factory fire, dumping of weapons at “90” (http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-36419-Umair-Siddiqui-admits-killing-120-people-Rangers)
However, the reality seems to be very different.
Rangers` Lie About The Arrest
Umair Siddiqui, branded as a target, rather mass killer, was
actually taken into custody by the Rangers on 15 February, i,e., about one
month before the Rangers officially disclosed his arrest. (http://www.mqm.org/urdunews/18229 & http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-301888-MQM-condemns-activists-detention) In other words, Umair was kept in an illegal
custody for a month by the Rangers which is sheer the violation of the
prevailing laws of the land and exposes the
ill-intention of the sub-force of Army. Question is, if he was really wanted by
the Rangers, he could have been produced before the court immediately after the
arrest, why was his arrest hidden from the court as well? Was that not contempt
of court by the Rangers?
Misuse of Blind FIR`s
As a normal practice adopted by the investigating agencies
all over the world, whenever a crime (murder, for example) takes place, they
try to contact the witness, if any, so as to draw a sketch and release it to
the public for assistance in the case. However, in the Rangers` personnel case (Lance Naik Shaukat killed in December 2010), no sketch was drawn and released to the
media. Even the police registered its first interrogation report (FIR) against
the unknown/unidentified killer which clearly means that there was no witness
to the case.
However, now the Rangers claim that a (an unknown) witness
has recognized Umair as the main killer in an identification parade. How
strange it seems that on one hand, there was no one to help the Police/Rangers
even to draw a sketch of the killer, but after about five (5) years someone
comes and very accurately identifies Umair as the same killer?
Controversial Identification Parade
It should also be noticed here that the “witness” identified
him after the entire Pakistani media had kept on painting Umair Siduqi (by showing
his photo) as a target killer for about three (3) months not only in the news bulletins,
but also in the talk shows. Question is, after a systematic media campaign branding
him as the real culprit, does his identification by a person (presented as
witness by the Rangers) not legally become questionable? (http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/317196/eyewitness-identifies-mqm-s-umair-in-murder-case)
The Story of Depositing Weapons at “90”
Another charge that the Rangers leveled on Umair was of
having killed one hundred and twenty (120) people and then depositing the used
weapons at MQM`s head office in order to avoid any raids by the police &
Rangers. However, the weapons that Rangers had seized from “90” were not only
legally licensed (as MQM provided the licenses for them), but also, as per the forensic
examination by the police, had never been used in any sort of crimes in the
city. This badly weakens the Rangers allegations on Umair.
Murder of Amir Khan`s Nephew
Similarly, Umair was also blamed for the murder of Amir
Khan`s (MQM leader) nephew. However, Amir Khan, after his release, denied all
the allegations put on MQM. Now, question is, when Amir Khan, not only as the
MQM`s leader (representing the party), but also as the complainant (uncle of his
deceased nephews) in the murder case has altogether rejected all sort of
allegations on MQM`s leaders and workers, what is the credibility left in the
Rangers` claims anymore??
Baldia Factory Fire Charge
One of the most high profile allegations on him was the
involvement in the Baldia factory fire incident in which about 258 got burnt
alive.
It is on record that a tribunal was constituted in order to
probe the causes of the factory fire. The tribunal submitted its report to the
Chief Minister Sindh and Home department saying, “An electrical short-circuit may have been the initial cause
of the Baldia garments factory that claimed the lives of more than 250 people
but the “entire system” is responsible for the cause of deaths.”(http://tribune.com.pk/story/474798/baldia-factory-fire-short-circuit-all-of-karachi-to-blame-for-tragedy-says-tribunal/)
However despite the tribunal report in December
2012, the Rangers informed the Sindh High court in its report that an already
arrested worker of MQM confessed in a JIT (Joint Interrogation Team of
different agencies) report of June 22, 2013, that the factory was
set on fire because the factory owner refused to pay the 200 million extortion
money demanded from MQM`s office bearers.(http://www.dawn.com/news/1162049/rangers-report-blames-mqm-for-baldia-factory-fire)
The most interesting part of the said JIT was that
the suspect Rizwan Qureshi had obtained all that
information from someone else. In words, the “prime accused” neither himself set
the factory on fire, nor did he witness anyone else doing the same. He just
quoted whatever he had heard from the other person.
Question
is, why did the JIT officials not confirm during the period (from June 22, 2013
to February 2015) if whatever the story Rizwan told them (if he really did so
without any fear of torture) was true? Can making an unverified statement a
part of their investigation (JIT) report be considered as legally credible
specially in the scenario where the court has already released the suspect (Rizwan)
on bail long ago due to not having concrete evidences against him? Furthermore,
would the Pakistani authorities including the Rangers like to explain how a JIT
report purely based on hear say (and which is still unverified) can be more
reliable than that of the one from a facts finding tribunal?
Order To Arrest Even The Sympathizers
Very
surprisingly, instead of reviewing their incomplete and unverified report, the DG Rangers ordered the arrest of those
involved in the fire incident, as well as of their sympathizers. (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/sindh/04-Mar-2015/certain-elements-interfering-in-baldia-factory-fire-investigation-rangers).
Question is, when it has not yet been concluded
if there was any deliberation in the factory fire incident, was it logically justified
to brand anyone as criminal and also order to arrest not only the named persons,
but also their sympathizers??
Here, the DG Rangers did not clarify if the term “Sympathizers”
would include all the people from his family & friends to the political party
he worked for, or there would be any exception to it.
Anyway, after the orders from the DG Rangers Sindh, the
Rangers and Police launched a crackdown against MQM and arrested dozens of its
workers. Most of them were brutally tortured to accept their involvement in the
fire incident as a result of which, one of them died in the custody.
The post mortem
report of the deceased Waseem Dehalvi, termed the police torture as the main
cause of his death.(http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/06/04/national/mqm-workers-death-leads-to-three-police-suspensions/)
Considering the above-stated facts, can the allegations and
the resulted prosecutions by the Rangers and Police anyhow be termed as legally
fair and impartial against MQM?
Legality & The Real Aim Behind JIT on Factory Fire Incident
Babar
Sattar is a famous lawyer and also known as an MQM`s critic. He wrote a column
in Dawn (Game of Thrones) in which, though he criticized MQM, but clearly accepted
that the JIT over Baldia factory was based on hear say. He said, “This JIT report has no evidentiary value for the
Baldia case as Rizwan Qureshi’s (the suspect) statement is based on hearsay.
Everyone must be presumed innocent until proven guilty and MQM is right in
asserting that its media trial on the basis of such report is unfair”.
Mr.
Sattar further wrote, “This latest JIT report will only be used as a bargaining
chip by other players (Pakistani military establishment including ISI) to
negotiate with the MQM before being forgotten”. (http://www.dawn.com/news/1163854/game-of-thrones). No doubt, the mounting pressure on MQM from the
military establishment is proving his words true.
Umair Siddiqui`s case is not only one case at all. In fact,
it is only a glimpse of what the MQM`s workers and leaders have been forced to
face during the on-going Rangers-led operation in Karachi. According to MQM,
thousands of its workers have been arrested, about 90 gone missing after their
arrest and dozens were tortured to death by the police and Rangers in the process
of accepting and publicly reading out the already written “confessional
statements”.
The fabricated confession of MQM`s leader Amir Khan released
by the Ranger (according to which he had accepted the involvement of MQM in so
many crimes in the city (http://arynews.tv/en/mqm-leader-amir-khans-revelations-trigger-political-storm) is an undeniable evidence of how viciously the
Rangers have been trying to criminalize MQM and its followers.
Luckily, Amir
Khan came out alive (got released on bail due to poor investigation) from the
Rangers` custody and strongly denied all the allegations (http://www.mqm.org/urdunews/32110 &
http://www.dawn.com/news/1191425/mqm-leader-amir-khan-released-from-karachi-central-jail). Otherwise, Rangers as well as the Pakistani media had
almost branded him and his party terrorists in Pakistan.
It should be kept in mind that MQM emerged as a result of
long-prevailing injustice against Muhajirs (Partition migrants) on ethnic basis
for decades in Pakistan. But, instead of taking step to resolve their long-pending
issues, ethnically-motivated victimization through the law-enforcement agencies
against them has badly worsened the situation. Therefore, it is the need of the
time to address the most sensitive issue and resolve it at the earliest.
Otherwise, the retaliation from the affected people seems to be very imminent
in the near future.
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