KARACHI: An interned activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) died under mysterious circumstances in Karachi Central Jail on Tuesday.
Ameerudin alias Meeru, arrested in January, last year, was booked in a paramilitary soldier’s murder case, among others. Jail officials claimed that the inmate died of a heart attack. However, the MQM’s London group maintained that Ameerudin was poisoned.
“Contrary to claims made by the jail officials, Ameerudin did not suffer from any ailment,” MQM-London leader Nadeem Nusrat told The Express Tribune. “Ameerudin spoke to his family members in the last couple of days. He was healthy,” said Nusrat, while referring to a talk he had with the deceased’s family.
“He mentioned [in the last meeting] that he was under tremendous pressure from Mustafa Kamal and Anis Kaimkhani to join the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP),” Nusrat added. He said that the inmate’s last meal [Monday night] was apparently poisoned because his body carried suggestive features.
“This was the fifth death of an MQM worker in jail in the past few weeks and all of them died under suspicious circumstances,” said Nusrat, adding that around 900 of the party’s workers were imprisoned.
He alleged that Kamal and Kaimkhani, his former comrades, were pressurising MQM workers in jail to join PSP.
Later, Nusrat issued a statement over the incident and demanded a judicial probe to ascertain the facts.
Meanwhile, MQM-Pakistan leader Aminul Haq also expressed suspiciousness over the death of Ameerudin and said that ailing party workers were not being given proper medical attention inside jail.
“This was the third death of an incarcerated MQM worker since August 22 when the party split into two factions of Pakistan and London,” claimed Haq.
“After Waheed Shakh of Shah Faisal Town and Naeem Akhtar of Lyari, Ameeruddin was the third casualty to the party,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2017.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1298354/mysterious-circumstances-incarcerated-mqm-worker-dies-jail/