MQM worker succumbed to cardiac arrest, not police torture: Saeed Ghani

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Provincial Minister of Sindh for Labour and Information and Human Resources Saeed Ghani. — Geo.tv/File
Provincial Minister of Sindh for Labour and Information and Human Resources Saeed Ghani. — Geo.tv/File 

KARACHI: Sindh Information and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani on Thursday said that MQM-P's worker died due to cardiac arrest a day ago and not because of police torture as portrayed by the party. 

"Although an unpleasant incident took place outside the Chief Minister House the previous day, the police was left with no option but to take action against the protesters for the sake of prestige and dignity of the country that was at stake for rest of the world," Ghani said, according to Geo News.

Speaking during a press conference at the Sindh Assembly’s committee room, the minister said that a "well-thought-out plan had been behind the unpleasant incident of the previous day to create negative repercussions for the international players participating in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches."

He said that MQM-P had the "plan to spread ethnic divide in Karachi and the recent statements of their leaders were a testament to this fact."

He informed the media that MQM-P had earlier announced to start a protest rally from Shahrah-e-Faisal and move towards the Karachi Press Club to hold a demonstration there, adding that the Opposition party had been in touch with the city’s administration with regard to their plan.

Ghani also said that the city’s administration kept on facilitating the movement of the protest rally from Shahrah-e-Faisal to the Metropole intersection where it reached at 4pm.  Later, it decided to move towards the Press Club as per the original protest plan. However, the participants of the rally abruptly decided to move towards the CM House instead," Ghani said.

The PPP leader said the deputy commissioner of the district south and other senior police officials informed the MQM-P leaders Wasim Akhtar and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui that the area in the surroundings of the CM House had been declared a high-security zone owing to the presence of international cricket players lodging in the nearby hotels. 

"The administration advised the leaders of MQM-P to stick to their original protest plan and go to the Press Club for staging the demonstration," he said.

He also said that the rally’s participants didn’t pay heed to the advice of the administration as they crossed the obstacles at the Metropole and reached outside the CM House. 

“What other option was then available to us as a PSL team present in the vicinity had to come outside of the hotel and go for practice but players didn’t go anywhere due to the resultant situation,” Ghani added.

He said the incident that happened outside the CM House "was, indeed, unpleasant as it didn’t bode well for the Sindh government."

During the press conference, Ghani said that the provincial government had to ensure the security of the area around CM House, given the presence of international players in the nearby hotels as the image of the country for the outside world was at stake.

He also recalled the statement of Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed that the overall law and order situation of the country was not satisfactory.

The Information Minister said the police — as a last resort — had to take the action to disperse the protesters, adding that the "MPA of MQM-P, Sadaqat Hussain, along with fellow party members used sticks to beat the policemen."

"It was imperative that the police should have honourably treated the woman protesters but MQM-P is in the habit of using female followers of the party and children as its shield on such occasions," he said.

'Worker died due to cardia arrest'

Talking about the deceased activist of MQM-P, Aslam, Ghani said: "He had died due to cardiac arrest as police torture didn’t result in his death." 

The PPP stalwart added that Aslam was first taken by his family to the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases and later he was taken to NICVD where doctors pronounced him dead.

He said that Aslam should have been taken to the nearby Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre or Civil Hospital had he sustained injuries outside CM House.

Ghani appealed to the bereaved family of the MQM-P’s worker to allow a post-mortem examination of his body to determine the exact cause of his death.

He also told the media that the PPP had decided to postpone its upcoming sit-in protest outside Karachi Press Club on January 30 due to the sensitive security situation of the city owing to the PSL matches.

Police retrieve Aslam's mobile data 

The authorities on Thursday claimed that the MQM worker was present at the Press Club at the time of the clash between party members and the police.

The investigative authorities said that Aslam's mobile data has been retrieved which proves that the worker did not die due to the police's torture. 

On Wednesday, Aslam was at his home at 1:46pm and left for the protest at Shahrah-e-Faisal at 5:10pm. After that, he left for the Press Club at 6:32pm and stayed there till 7:54pm.

According to the authorities, Aslam was at the Rashid Minhas Road at 8:19pm, while at 8:42pm, he was at Federal B Area's block 15.

At 8:30pm, Aslam was taken to the hospital and he died at 10:29pm. At 10:33pm, he was taken back to his home. The investigative authorities added that the deceased family refused to carry out a post-mortem. 

CM Sindh offers condolences to MQM member Syed Aminul Haque 

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday offered condolences to the Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque over a call.

The CM said that these incidents should not happen under any circumstances and the issues should be resolved through dialogue, per the reports. 

The protest

On Wednesday, MQM-P workers and leaders had gathered in large numbers during the afternoon hours to stage a protest against the controversial local government bill.

Later on, the protesters attempted to reach the Chief Minister's House for a sit-in. As a result, the flow of traffic was severely affected on the road considered to be the city's main artery.

The police, however, baton-charged the crowd and used teargas shells in an attempt to dissuade it from entering the red zone.

MQM-P representatives said several women and children participating in the protests sustained injuries, while the police arrested several MQM-P leaders and activists.

Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) Sadaqat Hussain was also injured because of the baton charge. Contingents of south police were deployed at the site of the protest to disperse the demonstrators.

According to the traffic police, the Shahrah-e-Faisal road started to become choked as protesters continued to advance forwards, therefore, they said they had "no choice but to use force and fire teargas shells."

The protesters, however, insisted that they were "staging their protest peacefully, but the police went ahead and used force to disperse them."

The police cleared the area and roads resuming the traffic for the public, while five people were arrested from the area near CM House.

MQM-P leaders and workers later left for the press club where the top leadership held a press conference in order to decide on an action plan.