Family concerned about whereabouts of People Unity’s president

Hidayatullah went missing four days ago in Karachi after PIA workers’ protest

PESHAWAR: The family of People’s Unity central President Hidayatullah Khan in Mardan district has expressed deep concern over his whereabouts as he went missing four days ago after taking part in the protest by the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) workers in Karachi.

Shoaib Yousafzai, a PIA employee who is younger brother of Hidayatullah, said they were using all means to trace the whereabouts of his elder brother. He said people close to Hidayatullah had told the family that he is in the custody of the Sindh Rangers.

However, Major Sibtain, a spokesman for the Sindh Rangers, when approached by telephone, rejected the claim of the PIA workers, saying “Hidayatullah Khan isn’t in our custody”.

Some PIA employees and close friends of Hidayatullah said personnel of the Sindh Rangers had taken him and some other workers of the airline into custody during their protest in Karachi against PIA’s privatization.

“They were freed in the evening on Wednesday and Hidayatullah later addressed a press conference and held the Rangers responsible for the firing at the protesting PIA workers that led to the killing of two employees. On Thursday, some armed men in plainclothes arrived and took Hidayatullah into custody and drove him towards an undisclosed location,” one of Hidayatullah’s colleagues told The News by phone.

He said Hidayatullah had announced that they would not bury their dead colleagues till the first information report was lodged against the killers.“We believe that this statement of Hidayatullah Khan led to his detention. We are 100 percent certain our leader is in custody of the Sindh Rangers,” he said.

Besides Hidayatullah, the PIA workers said senior vice-president of the People’s Unity Zameer Chandio, and office-bearers Mansoor Dhelo and Saifullah Larak have also been detained by the Rangers.

The People’s Unity office-bearers claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Mushahidullah Khan had reportedly told the BBC Urdu service that these people had been taken into protective custody. However, neither the Rangers nor Inspector General of Sindh police had admitted that the four men were in their custody.

At the family’s village Pailagi in Union Council Shamozai in Mardan, Hidayatullah’s relatives are desperately waiting for information about his whereabouts. They want the government to tell them who has taken Hidayatullah and his colleagues into custody. “For our peace of mind, we need to know who is holding him and on what charges. They should produce him in the court if there is a case against him,” one of Hidayatullah’s close relatives said.