ANOTHER CUSTODIAL DEATH IN PAKISTAN

GUL MOHAMMAD, A MOHAJIR TORTURED TO DEATH WHILE IN CUSTODY OF THE POLICE IN HYDERABAD, SINDH

February 25, 1999
London Time: 12.30 p.m.

Today, Gul Mohammad, a Mohajir resident of Hyderabad, Pakistan, was brutally tortured to death while in custody of the Police. According to details, on 16 February 1999, Gul Mohammad son of Shafi Mohammad, a resident of Unit 47, Sector L in Hyderabad, was arrested by the personnel of Section-A Latifabad Police Station, led by SHO Salman Farooqui along with ASI Shahid Abbasi and Constables Niaz and Laeeq. He was falsely implicated in a case of possessing illegal arms. After his arrest the Police demanded Rs. 30,000 as bribe for his release from the family. Since the family could not arrange the money, therefore, Gul Mohammad was brutally tortured while in custody. As a result he succumbed to the injuries and died while in Police custody in the early hours of 25 February 1999. His body bore visible marks of torture all over.

The custodial killing of Gul Mohammad is the continuation of the policy of the Government of Nawaz Sharif to physically eliminate the Mohajirs and crush their sole representative political party, the MQM.

Since the imposition of the undemocratic Governor Rule in the province of Sindh by the Nawaz Sharif this is the sixth case of custodial killing of an innocent Mohajir. Earlier Fasih Ahmed, Mubashir Ali, Israr Ahmed, Mohammad Anwar and Arman Danish, were also tortured to death while in custody of the Police .