FEDERAL INTERIOR MINISTER OF PAKISTAN, CHAUDARY SHUJAAT HUSSAIN, VERIFIES EXTRA-JUDICIAL MURDERS OF 30 MQM WORKERS

THOSE MURDERS WERE CARRIED OUT ON THE SPECIFIC ORDERS OF NASEERULLAH BABAR, INTERIOR MINISTER OF BENAZIR BHUTTO GOVERNMENT

March 13, 1998

On 11 March 1998, the Federal Interior Minister of Pakistan, Chaudary Shujat Hussain made a shocking disclosure in the Senate Standing Committee at Islamabad, that the 30 workers of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) were taken into custody in Karachi, shifted to Islamabad and then extrajudicially executed and buried in the wilds of Islamabad Hills. All this was done on the orders of the then Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar of the Benazir Bhutto Government.

Since the commencement of army operation against MQM on 19 June 1992, thousands of MQM workers and supporters have been murdered in cold blood while hundreds of those were killed in the custody of police or para-military rangers. To date not a single person responsible for these killings has been apprehended. Furthermore, the ministers and high officials on whose orders such heinous crimes were committed, roam about freely without any fear of prosecution.

In addition to those who were extrajudicially executed in so called "police encounters" there is a large number of MQM workers who "disappeared" from state custody without trace. During May 1997, MQM brought to the attention of newly elected Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan and the international community the plight of those families whose kith and kin were arrested by police or Para Military Rrangers personnel and their whereabouts are not known even after many years of search by their families. The family members had met them in different police stations when they were kept in police custody, but all of a sudden the authorities of law enforcement agencies began to disclaim any knowledge of their fate. The distressed family members were pitched from pole to post by the authorities but the fate of their loved ones was never divulged to them.

The Standing Committee of Pakistan Senate was formed to investigate the whereabouts of the 28 missing MQM workers. When this committee commenced its work, all sorts of hurdles were placed in its path and the members of the Committee were beaten-up and threatened of dire consequences by the intelligence agencies if they continued the investigation. Moreover, the witnesses and their family members were given life threats and attempts were made to kidnap their family members to refrain them in appearing before the Committee. The members of the Committee were harassed by the Intelligence Agencies to the extent that they refused to go to Karachi to investigate the fate of the missing persons.

For the MQM workers and supporters it is a norm to be killed with impunity as the atrocities upon those who survive continue to multiply. Everyday, innocent men, women and children belonging to MQM are being murdered in cold blood but the vast State machinery seems unwilling to apprehend a single culprit, even though the eye witnesses are there to identify them. Despite MQM being a coalition partner its workers and supporter are still being killed and its offices are raided. Fabricated cases are still being registered against MQM workers whereas known criminals move about freely under Para-Military Rangers' protection.

We would like to remind you that Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed on 5 November 1996 by the President of Pakistan, on the charges of extra-judicial murders in Karachi and corruption. This proclamation was later on upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The latest disclosure by the Federal Interior Minister leaves no doubt in minds that the culprits should be arrested immediately and tried for murder in an open court of law.

It is also a matter of grave concern that after verification and disclosure of this heinous crime by the Federal Interior Minister of the present Nawaz Sharif Government has not taken any action against the culprits.

THE LEADER NEWSPAPER
WEDNSDAY, March 11, 1998

30 MQM WOKERS WERE KILLED ON BABARS’S ORDERS AND BURIED IN ISLAMABAD HILLS

Islamabad, Mar. 11, Interior Minister Choudhry Shujaat Hussain has disclosed that 30 MQM workers were killed in Islamabad on the orders of Naseerullah Babar who was interior minister in Benazir government.

The interior minister was reported to have made this disclosure at Senate Standing Committee meeting on Law & Order.

The Interior Minister informed the committee that these MQM activists were brought from Karachi to Islamabad and on the orders of the then interior minister Naseerullah Babar were murdered and buried at the Islamabad hillocks.

He said that murders of MQM workers came to light during the review of extrajudicial killings cases during Benazir govt. The Interior Minister said that children of workers murdered on the orders of Babar are still searching the graves of their fathers.

The report said Senator Qaim Ali Shah of PPP became angry on this statement of minister and asked why the interior minister did not present of report of police encounters in Karachi. On this Interior Minister said if the list of these encounters was presented then mention would also be made of these 30 murders. The minister said that he could not commit a sin like this. He said that he could not order the killing f any innocent citizen.