Re: “Altaf ‘s arrest a matter of weeks”
This is a long read, which is sad that a sample of babar’s atrocities is so long, makes one think what the real amount of damafge was of a sample is this length.
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.htm?tbl=RSDCOI&page=research&id=3ae6a85d4
- HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY THE STATE
3.1 Arbitrary Arrest and Detention
Cordon-and-search or siege-and-search operations, in which entire neighbourhoods are surrounded while security forces personnel conduct house-to-house searches for arms and suspected militants, were frequent occurrences during the last few months of Operation Clean-up (AI Jan. 1995, 11; The Herald Nov. 1994b, 64). While government officials claim to have adopted a policy of targeted operations (ibid. Aug. 1995a, 27; IPS 18 Aug. 1995), sources indicate that siege-and-search operations continued in 1995 and 1996 (The Herald Aug. 1995a, 27; ibid. Aug. 1995b, 28-30; AFP 20 Aug. 1995; AI Feb. 1996, 8-9).
Generally lasting a few hours but in some cases as long as three days, cordon-and-search operations are conducted “without search warrants and without declaring curfew,” and no one is allowed to enter or leave the perimeter (AI Jan. 1995, 11; ibid. Feb. 1996, 9; The Herald Nov. 1994b, 64). Authorities frequently take hundreds of people into custody, failing to observe legal requirements to file First Information Reports[3]3 (FIRs) and release detainees within 24 hours (The Herald Nov. 1994b, 64; AI Feb. 1996, 9). Many of those detained are women, “boys as young as 12 and old men” (ibid., 10).
In one operation on 20 August 1995, police and Rangers cordoned off the neighbourhood of Pak Colony, a mostly poor area of 400,000 in Karachi’s West district, and took away hundreds of people, mostly youths, some blindfolded (AFP 20 Aug. 1995). Many were reportedly released after “screening” (ibid.). The director-general of the Rangers in Sindh, General Mushtaq, has told representatives of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) that there is “no other way to arrest [militants] than to round up large numbers and screen them” (AI Feb. 1996, 9), and that blindfolding of suspects is necessary to protect the identities of informants and witnesses (ibid., 10).
Sources indicate that although most detainees in cordon-and-search operations are released within a few hours (ibid., 9; The Herald Aug. 1995b, 29), many are only released after the victim’s family pays a sum of “ransom money” to police (AI 31 May 1995; The Herald Aug. 1995b, 29). The amount required can vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs 300,000 (Cdn $213 to $12,800), depending on the circumstances and status of the victim’s family (ibid.). One resident of the Garden West area of Karachi recounted how police arrived one day, surrounded her apartment building, and arrested 100 to 150 youths between the ages of 15 and 20 years (ibid.). Neighbours later told her that none of the boys had been released without paying ransom to police, and that some were being held on criminal charges pending payment (ibid.). One Karachi resident, whose son was taken to hospital after being injured in crossfire between police and militants during one operation, reported that two days later two policemen arrived, claiming his son had been charged with murder and would be released once a “deal” had been struck with the “incharge” of the Korangi police station (ibid., 30). Reports from Amnesty International and The Herald indicate that the Karachi police have a “well-known” reputation for corruption and brutality (AI Jan. 1995, 7; The Herald Oct. 1995b, 77; ibid. Jan. 1996b, 97), and many fear their family members will be tortured or even killed while in custody (ibid. Aug. 1995b, 29).
According to one source, the abuses committed during cordon-and-search operations are worse in low-income areas such as Orangi, Baldia and Korangi; while the procedures of arrest and extortion are the same, “the humiliation of residents there is of a higher degree than in relatively well-off areas” (ibid.). Residents of such areas report being blindfolded, beaten and kicked during searches and on the way to the police station, and of having their homes ransacked and valuables stolen (ibid., 30; AI Feb. 1996, 10; ibid. Jan. 1995, 11). Sources indicate that many women have reported being harassed, threatened and abused during house-to-house searches in such areas (The Herald Aug. 1995b, 30; AI Feb. 1996, 9, 10), and Amnesty International indicates these numbers may be on the increase (Feb. 1996, 9). Several sources indicate that when wanted MQM activists cannot be found, friends, relatives and family members are sometimes arrested to pressure suspects to surrender (AI 1995, 32; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1337; AI 17 Aug. 1995; ibid. 5 Apr. 1994, 1; ibid. Feb. 1996, 8; ibid. 5 Apr. 1994, 1).
3.2 Disappearance/Incommunicado Detention
Sources indicate that several people either disappeared into custody or were held in incommunicado detention for prolonged periods in 1995[4]4 (ibid. 17 Aug. 1995; ibid. Feb. 1996, 19-21; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336, 1338; AFP 17 July 1995; The Herald July 1995b, 34). According to Country Reports 1995, "the authorities do not strictly observe the limits on detention. The police are not required to notify anyone when an arrest is made and often hold detainees without charge until they are challenged by a court" (1996, 1338). Stated one human rights activist who has investigated dozens of such cases in Sindh, "undeclared detention is normal in Sindh" (AI Feb. 1996, 19).
One of the most publicized cases of disappearance involved MQM(A) member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) Qamar Mansoor Siddiqui and activist Rais Fatima, the sister of a close associate of Altaf Hussain, who on 4 June 1995 boarded a train in Karachi for Lahore, never to arrive (ibid. 17 Aug. 1995; ibid. Feb. 1996, 19-20; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336). About a month after habeas corpus petitions were filed on behalf of both people the government admitted to having arrested Qamar on a charge of sedition, but claimed to know nothing of the whereabouts of Rais Fatima (AI 17 Aug. 1995; AI Feb. 1996, 19-20; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336). For several months the government denied having taken Fatima into custody (AI Feb. 1996, 19-20; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336; AFP 10 Sept. 1995), but in December allowed her father to visit her in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail (AI Feb. 1996, 20; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336). Fatima claimed she had been in custody since 4 June (ibid.). A related case involved MQM activist Arshad Naeem, arrested in Lahore on 7 June, whose whereabouts remained unknown for over a month (AI Feb. 1996, 20). When Naeem’s habeas corpus petition came up before the Lahore High Court, officials denied having taken him into custody, but two days later admitted that he had been arrested in the same sedition case as Qamar and was also being held in Adiala jail (ibid.).
Several arrested MQM members, both party workers and parliamentarians, were transferred from Karachi to other prison locations in Pakistan, often secretly (ibid., 21; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1338; The Herald July 1995b, 34; AFP 17 July 1995). For example, in mid-July about 25 MQM suspects were reportedly secretly flown to Islamabad (The Herald July 1995b, 34). One reason offered was that interrogation teams with “specific expertise in urban terrorism” had been set up in the capital (The Herald July 1995b, 34), but another source states that such transfers are intended to “discourage visits by family members, supporters and attorneys” (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1338). Amnesty International suggests that transferred suspects may be particularly vulnerable to torture and other abuses during prolonged periods of incommunicado detention, and notes that several MQM activists subjected to such treatment have appeared on television confessing to various acts of “terrorism” (17 Aug. 1995; ibid. Feb. 1996, 21).
3.3 Torture and Ill-Treatment
Sources indicate that Pakistani police and prison officials have long used beatings and torture to extract confessions and force detainees to incriminate others (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336; AI Dec. 1993, 1). According to Country Reports 1995 and Amnesty International, use of torture is so widespread that it is considered standard practice (1996, 1336; Dec. 1993, 1); according to one 1992 source, Pakistan's police force has "institutionalized torture as its primary method of crime detection" (The Herald Nov. 1992, qtd. in AI Dec. 1993, 1). During Operation Clean-up the army's Field Investigation Team (FIT) reportedly operated several interrogation cells in Karachi in which detainees were "subjected to severe torture" (The Herald Nov. 1994b, 64; ibid. Jan. 1995b, 50), and extortion (Economic Review July 1995). A senior officer with the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA), which helps the regular police investigate crime and has been linked to many human rights abuses (AI Jan. 1995, 7; Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1994 1994, 304), has stated that "without torture interrogation is impossible. ... You cannot extract the truth from the suspects unless you employ torture. This happens all over the world" (Newsline Feb. 1994, qtd. in AI Jan. 1995, 8). Karachi police chief Shoaib Suddle has reportedly acknowledged that his officers sometimes torture prisoners, explaining that "torture is a problem but when your men are being ambushed every day, they react" (Chicago Tribune 8 Dec. 1995). In April 1995 the Terrorist Affected Areas Act of 1972 was amended to permit confessions or statements obtained during interrogations in "terrorist affected areas" to be used in court, a development human rights monitors and press sources believe encourages police use of torture to obtain evidence (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336-37; AFP 13 Apr. 1995).
Many incidents of ill-treatment or torture of MQM activists or workers at the hands of law enforcement authorities were reported in 1995 and 1996. On 29 or 30 May 1995 several Pakistani newspapers carried reports and photos of four young MQM activists produced in court who were blindfolded and visibly wounded (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336; AI Feb. 1996, 10). The men had what appeared to be cigarette burns on their arms and legs, and other injuries to legs and hips (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336; AI Feb. 1996, 10). The men told reporters they had been kept naked and blindfolded for days together, were given little food and were subjected to torture to reveal the whereabouts of MQM leaders and workers (ibid.). While reports indicate the four men had been arrested from their homes on 6 May, police claimed the men were bandits and had been captured in an “encounter” three days earlier (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1336; AI Feb. 1996, 10). Government officials stated the men’s wounds were self-inflicted, an attempt to implicate the government in human rights violations (ibid.). After the presiding judge ordered the four men remanded to judicial custody, police reportedly returned them to the police station (AI Feb. 1996, 11).
Amnesty International indicates that although incidents of torture and extortion involving political activists are reported frequently in Karachi, the number of such incidents involving MQM suspects and their families suggests police believe they can do so with impunity (ibid.). Some detainees have reportedly died from injuries inflicted while in police custody, even after the family has agreed to pay the required amount (ibid., 14).
In 1995 Amnesty International received “several dozen” reports of people dying from torture while in police custody (ibid., 11). Many of these incidents involve MQM or suspected MQM activists (ibid., 11-14). On 7 July 1995 former MQM councillor Aslam Sabzwari died in mysterious circumstances, 16 hours after being taken into custody by police in Liaquatabad, Central district (ibid., 11; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1335; Reuters 7 July 1995; The News 8 July 1995). Doctors who performed the post-mortem examination reportedly found marks of “severe torture” on the body (The News 8 July 1995; AI Feb. 1996, 11-12; MQM News 26 Sept. 1995), and attendants at the Edhi Foundation, where the body was taken for burial, found the left eye smashed and a bullet wound in the back of the head (AI Feb. 1996, 11-12; MQM News 26 Sept. 1995). Police initially claimed Sabzwari had been tortured by unidentified men, had been found injured and unconscious, and had died of a heart attack at Gulberg police station (AI Feb. 1996, 12; The News 8 July 1995; AFP 10 July 1995), but several days later produced a photograph of the body, purportedly taken before the post-mortem, that showed no signs of torture and both eyes intact (AI Feb. 1996, 12). No explanation was offered as to how the body could be injury-free at the time of post-mortem when, as police claimed, Sabzwari had been tortured prior to arrest (ibid.). Further, in later communications the government stated that “Altaf group terrorists like … Aslam Sabzwari … got killed” when they “engaged law enforcement personnel in shootouts,” despite the initial claim that he died of a heart attack (ibid.). Observers in Karachi believe Sabzwari, who had over 30 charges pending against him and a Rs 1.5 million (Cdn $64,000) reward on his head (ibid.; Reuters 7 July 1995; The News 8 July 1995), may have been tortured by the MQM(H) and then picked up and killed by police who wanted to recover the reward (AI Feb. 1996, 12). Inquiries were ordered by both the Karachi police chief and the Sindh provincial government (The News 8 July 1995; AI Feb. 1996, 13), but it is not known whether any reports have been issued or police personnel held responsible (ibid.).
Sources indicate that torture resulting in deaths of MQM suspects in custody are sometimes covered up as faked encounter killings (ibid., 14; The Herald Feb. 1996, 74-75; AI Dec. 1993, 1). One incident involves the death in police custody of MQM activist Fahimur Rehman (alias Bhoora)[5]5, who police claim jumped to his death from the second floor of a construction site to which police had taken him to help locate hidden weapons (The Herald Feb. 1996, 74). Police claim they fired shots after Fahim broke loose, but that none hit their target (ibid.). Not only was the police story nearly identical to one used several months earlier in the death of another MQM activist (AI Feb. 1996, 14-15; The Herald Feb. 1996, 74), but according to The Herald, it is unlikely police and Fahim were ever on the site (ibid., 74). No empty shell casings were found on the site, where police claim to have shot at Fahim, whereas “scores” were found outside, and the site was well-supervised and kept locked after hours, making it an unlikely place to store weapons (ibid., 75). Furthermore, a doctor at the Jinnah Hospital who saw the body reportedly stated that Fahim’s injuries could not have occurred from a fall (ibid.). The paper speculated that Fahim was already dead when police arrived at the site, and after breaking the lock on the gate and firing a few shots to create an alibi, they had simply left his body behind and returned to the station (ibid., 74). A “senior police official” reportedly confirmed that Fahim had been subjected to severe torture during interrogation at the Women’s Police Station in Karachi’s South district, “had not eaten since his arrest almost a week earlier,” and died of injuries that included several fractured ribs and a fractured skull (ibid., 75).
On 26 September 1995 Feroze Uddin and another MQM worker from North Karachi, who had been arrested on 19 September, appeared in a special court to face charges of assault on public servants (AI Feb. 1996, 14). The presiding judge reportedly commented on the numerous injuries visible on Feroze Uddin, included swelling of his face and chest and other marks of beating, and ordered him remanded to judicial custody (ibid.). On 28 or 29 September Feroze Uddin and two other MQM activists died of gunshot injuries sustained in an alleged “encounter” between police and militants (ibid.). Police claim Feroze Uddin and one other MQM worker had been taken to New Karachi to identify suspects and both men were killed when armed militants attacked (ibid.).
According to Amnesty International, police have reported other deaths in custody as being due to suicide, accidents or natural causes (ibid., 14-15).
3.4 Extrajudicial Executions
Extrajudicial executions, often in the form of staged "encounters" with militants in which police shoot and kill suspects, occur with "alarming frequency" in Karachi, and sources indicate the rate seems to be increasing (The Herald Nov. 1995a, 45-47; AI Feb. 1996, 17; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1335; Reuters 16 Feb. 1996; The Herald Feb. 1996, 74-75; ibid. Jan. 1996a, 53; AP 15 Feb. 1996). The precise numbers are difficult to determine, but the MQM has reportedly claimed that 130 to 150 of its activists were extrajudicially executed by security forces in 1995 (Reuters 16 Feb. 1996; Current History Apr. 1996, 161), and more than 50 in the first six weeks of 1996 (Reuters 16 Feb. 1996). These numbers correspond roughly with figures given by other observers, including the HRCP (AFP 28 Feb. 1996; The Herald Feb. 1996, 74; ibid. Nov. 1995a, 46; ibid. Jan. 1996a, 51; AP 2 Apr. 1996; DPA 31 Dec. 1995).
In March 1995, following the killing of the US consulate personnel, Prime Minister Bhutto called upon security forces to use “ruthlessness” in dealing with “terrorists,” and threatened provincial government officials with dismissal unless they quickly brought the escalating violence in Karachi under control (The New York Times 13 Mar. 1995; AI 15 Mar. 1995; ibid. Feb. 1996, 5). A number of sources, as well as statements from police and government officials, suggest security forces have been given tacit permission to use extrajudicial executions to eliminate militants (The Herald Feb. 1996, 74; ibid. Nov. 1995a, 46, 47; ibid. Jan. 1996a, 53; India Abroad 9 Feb. 1996, 10; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1335).
On 2 August 1995, Farooq Putney (alias Farooq Dada) and three other MQM workers were killed by police in an “encounter” near Karachi’s airport (AI Feb. 1996, 17; ibid. 17 Aug. 1995; IPS 18 Aug. 1995; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1335). Police claimed the four men were killed when they failed to stop and opened fire on police (AI Feb. 1996, 17), and that a large quantity of weapons was recovered from their car (IPS 18 Aug. 1995). However, family members claim the men had earlier been arrested from their homes (AI Feb. 1996, 17; ibid. 17 Aug. 1995; IPS 18 Aug. 1995), and witnesses reportedly saw the four in shackles at the same time another MQM activist was arrested (AI Feb. 1996, 17). Putney, who faced “numerous and credible” charges of extortion and murder (Country Reports 1995 1996, 1335), including the killings of a number of security forces personnel, reportedly had a Rs 1 million (Cdn $42,680) reward on his head (IPS 18 Aug. 1995).
On 10 October 1995, Fahim Farooqi (alias Fahim Commando) and three other MQM workers were killed in an alleged encounter in the residential Karachi neighbourhood of Nazimabad (AI Feb. 1996, 17; The Herald Nov. 1995a, 45; Reuters 10 Oct. 1995; AP 10 Oct. 1995; Radio Pakistan Overseas Service 10 Oct. 1995). According to police the four men, all of whom had been arrested earlier, were being taken to Nazimabad to identify an MQM “safe house” when MQM gunmen ambushed them from the rooftops (AI Feb. 1996, 17-18; The Herald Nov. 1995a, 45; Reuters 10 Oct. 1995; AP 10 Oct. 1995; Radio Pakistan Overseas Service 10 Oct. 1995). Officials stated that police personnel fled the ambushed vehicle, thus explaining why no law enforcement personnel were injured, but the four prisoners, handcuffed in the van, were killed (AI Feb. 1996, 18). According to one source, however, Nazimabad residents who tried to enter the street to see what had happened were blocked at their doorways by police personnel (The Herald Nov. 1995a, 45). Doctors who examined the bodies found that all four men had been shot at very close range (AI Feb. 1996, 18; Reuters 10 Oct. 1995). According to the HRCP, which investigated the incident and found that “the official version of an ambush or a shoot-out could not be given credence” (DPA 19 Oct. 1995), the four had been “handcuffed, fettered and chained together” when they were shot to death on a street blocked off by police (DPA 19 Oct. 1995; AI Feb. 1996, 18; The Herald Nov. 1995a, 45). Like Farooq Putney, Fahim Farooqi reportedly topped the government’s “most wanted” list (The Herald Jan. 1996a, 53; AP 10 Oct. 1995). Several weeks after Fahim Farooqi’s death, government and law enforcement officials claimed he had been “killed under MQM(A) high command’s instructions by their terrorists so that he could not disclose secrets and pinpoint [MQM(A)] hideouts” (AI Feb. 1996, 18; The Herald Nov. 1995a, 46). According to one source, several MQM activists have been killed in alleged attacks by “MQM terrorists” while being transported to various areas during police investigations (ibid.).
Sources indicate that law enforcement officials sometimes describe victims of extrajudicial killings as terrorists in order to justify their actions (AI Feb. 1996, 18; The Herald Feb. 1996, 75). According to The Herald, many of those killed in encounters and described by police as “terrorists” were “not even on the `wanted list’ of the law enforcement agencies”:
Whenever anyone is killed in a so-called encounter', the police attaches his name to a number of crimes and scores of unsolved cases. ... Investigations show that more often than not, the deceased's names were only added to the police record after their murder. The boys who were killed along with Faheem Farooqui alias Commando, for example, were alleged to have committed dozens of crimes. All the original FIRs of the cases, however, put the accused as unknown’" (Feb. 1996, 75).
One MQM “terrorist” killed in an alleged armed encounter with police was Wafed Ali Safdar, a young MQM worker who had reportedly witnessed the custodial killings of two MQM activists in September 1995 and was prepared to give evidence (AI Feb. 1996, 18).
Sources indicate that some extrajudicial executions may be retaliatory or revenge killings (ibid., 24; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1335; The Herald Nov. 1995a, 46; ibid. Jan. 1996a, 55). On 9 December 1995, the torture-marked bodies of Nasir and Arif Hussain, Altaf Hussain’s elder brother and nephew, were discovered in the isolated Gadap area of Karachi (AI Feb. 1996, 24, 25; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1335; Xinhua 10 Dec. 1995; India Abroad 15 Dec. 1995, 13). Several sources suggest the men were murdered in retaliation for the killing a few days earlier of Ehsan Ali Shah, the brother of Sindh Chief Minister Abdullah Shah (see subsection 5.3) (AI Feb. 1996, 24-25; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1335; The Herald Jan. 1996a, 55).
3.5 Treatment of the Press
On 29 June 1995 the Sindh provincial government invoked the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance of 1960 and instituted a 60-day ban on six Karachi-based Urdu-language dailies for "sensationalist" reporting of the Karachi violence and for "inciting people to violence against the government" (HRW 1995, 166-67; AI Feb. 1996, 15; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1341; The Economist 1-7 July 1995, 30). The move outraged the press community—one human rights monitor described it as the "harshest media crackdown since General Zia ul Haq's military dictatorship" (HRW 1995, 166)—and after protests by journalists' unions and newspaper owners associations the government was forced to lift the ban less than one week later (ibid., 167; AI Feb. 1996, 15; Country Reports 1995 1996, 1341; Radio Pakistan 5 July 1995). A similar ban was instituted in mid-December 1995 (AI Feb. 1996, 15; Freedom Review Mar.-Apr. 1996, 41; Reuters 13 Dec. 1995), and again lifted because of journalists' protests (AI Feb. 1996, 15).
On 16 August 1995, police raided the house of Razia Bhatti, editor of the highly respected independent monthly Newsline, and searched the paper’s editorial offices twice the next day (IFEX 17 Aug. 1995; AI Feb. 1996, 15; IPS 30 Aug. 1995; IPS 17 Mar. 1996; HRW 1995, 167). Charges were brought and then dropped against Bhatti, the publisher of Newsline and journalist Mohammed Hanif, who had written an unflattering article about Kamaluddin Azfar, the newly appointed governor of Sindh (IFEX 17 Aug. 1995; AI Feb. 1996, 15; IPS 30 Aug. 1995; IPS 17 Mar. 1996; HRW 1995, 167). Bhatti was known to be an uncompromising critic of government handling of the Karachi situation (IPS 17 Mar. 1996; IPS 30 Aug. 1995). On 16 August police also raided the home of Zahid Qureshi, editor of the Urdu-language Karachi daily Parcham, which is considered the “official organ” of the MQM (IFEX 17 Aug. 1995; AI Feb. 1996, 15; IPS 30 Aug. 1995). When Qureshi could not be found, police reportedly arrested his younger brother and seized papers and photos of Qureshi with MQM leader Altaf Hussain (IFEX 17 Aug. 1995; IPS 30 Aug. 1995).
On 23 August 1995, gunmen driving a vehicle identified as government-owned reportedly threw bombs at the Parcham offices (AI Feb. 1996, 16). On 14 September 1995, Parcham correspondent Farhan Effendi was arrested in Hyderabad by plainclothes Rangers and “reportedly severely beaten, and kept in detention blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back” (HRW 1995, 167; IFEX 18 Sept. 1996; AI Feb. 1996, 15-16; India Abroad 19 Jan. 1996b). Journalists who saw Effendi reported that he had bruises on his face, chest and back (AI Feb. 1996, 16). At last report Effendi had been charged with illegal possession of a firearm and involvement in terrorist activities, and, denied bail, was in Hyderabad’s Central Jail awaiting trial (ibid.; HRW 1995, 167; India Abroad 19 Jan. 1996b). Other journalists critical of the government have reportedly suffered fates similar to Effendi’s (HRW 1995, 167; India Abroad 19 Jan. 1996b). Sources indicate that government actions against the press in 1995 “fostered a climate in which journalists became regular targets for violence and intimidation” (HRW 1995, 169; India Abroad 19 Jan. 1996b), and that there was an “alarming increase” in the number of attacks on journalists during the year (ibid.).
