Rangers issue report on allegations on force

KARACHI: The paramilitary Force on Friday issued an investigation report into the allegations leveled against the Rangers, Sindh, by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement over the killing of their worker Mohammed Hashim.
A spokesman for the Sindh Rangers said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), on August 9, 2015, called an emergency meeting and issued a statement about Mohammed Hashim, son of Badruddin.
The statement was regarding the disappearance, torture and extrajudicial killing of Hashim.
It claimed that the Rangers personnel had arrested him while he was going home on May 6 in the Liaquatabad area.
The Sindh Rangers as per the commitment launched an inquiry into the case in which statements of seven witnesses were recorded and other records were investigated.
The witnesses included the Rangers, the police, family members of Hashim and other people.
The Muttahida’s Rabita Committee was also contacted to appear on record, but no cooperation was received from them.
Some of the key points of the investigative report are as follows:
MQM’s Rabita Committee in the above statement had claimed that Mohammed Hashim, an MQM activist from the Liaquatabad Sector, was arrested by the Rangers on May 6, 2015, while his wife said that he had disappeared on May 5. There is a clear difference in both the dates and the statements.
The MQM claimed that Sindh Rangers had detained Mohammed Hashim. As per his mobile phone recording, on May 23 at 06:15am, May 25 at 05:59am and on May 30 at 07:30am, Hashim made calls from his mobile. It implies that the MQM’s statement was exaggerated regarding his arrest by the Rangers.
According to his family members, Hashim had gone to visit a newspaper office on May 5 at 14:00 hours. And he called home on May 5 at 18:00 hours. On the contrary, according to the MQM’s press release, he was arrested by Rangers on May 6 at 22:00 hours while he was going home from Nine Zero. It implies that Hashim was at Nine Zero from May 5, time 18:00 hours, to May 6, time 22:00 hours.
The Rabita Committee members were called by the Rangers after their press conference. First they did not show any cooperation. After two days, their lawyers and authorities showed up. On enquiring about their claims, they said that they had no substantial evidence that the Rangers or the police had arrested Hashim. They said their statement was based on general viewpoint.
Hashim’s family said that he was a security guard at the Valika Hospital. The security supervisor of Valika Hospital rejected this claim and said that Hashim was not working as a security guard over there.
Hashim’s family said that he was a photographer in the Aman newspaper. An Aman newspaper official said that he was only given an honorary card for photography which he used to utilise for his own interests. He was never an employee of the Aman newspaper nor was he ever seen in its office. The record showed that he had never received any salary from the office.
According to the criminal record of the police, Hashim was involved in attacking a Rangers mobile in Liaquatbad No 4 on July 2, 1998, in which a Rangers officer, Dildar Husain, had been killed while Hawaldar Mumtaz was injured.
According to some intelligence reports and facts, Hashim was an MQM activist and it had been repeated in the Rabita Committee’s statement. Hashim was having some key information about some internal and external matters of the MQM, and he had been working as a photographer at Nine Zero for the last 10 years, and he was an active member of the Liaquatabad Sector’s target killing team, and he was wanted by the police.
On the basis of these facts, it cannot be ruled out that Hashim might have been killed by internal elements of the MQM and on the basis of the above facts, the Rangers and the police have the right to say that the Muttahida should look into its internal affairs as a party to produce productive results.
Moreover, the police and the Rangers are state institutions and have the right to take necessary legal action against these baseless charges.