went to the Rangers headquarters and met DG Maj Gen Bilal Akbar and other officials to share with them whatever information I had about the kidnapping,” said Chinoy.
He also denied media reports that the Rangers had confiscated money from his residence. He said the reason of the RSTF’s early morning visit was due to the sensitivity of the kidnapping issue.
Responding to a question, he said neither does the CPLC engage in any contact with kidnappers nor does it negotiate the victims’ release.
Replying to another query, he said there was no lack of coordination between different law enforcement agencies, including the CPLC, police and Rangers, working on kidnapping for ransom cases.
Altaf condemns ‘raid’
Expressing sympathy with the Memon community after the alleged Rangers raid at the CPLC chief’s house, MQM chief Altaf Hussain assured complete support to the community if they were to stage a protest demonstration.
The MQM strongly reacted to the “biased attitude of the law enforcement agencies towards the Urdu-speaking community”.
The party asked the authorities to take the matter seriously because “certain quarters want to crush the community”.
Hussain invited the attention of the chief of army staff and other senior officials about the sacrifices rendered by the Memon community since the inception of Pakistan. He said history proved that the Urdu-speaking community had always supported the nation in all crises, but “the discriminatory attitude towards the community is extremely regrettable”.
The MQM chief claimed that according to the Rangers, Chinoy had links with kidnapping for ransom groups.
He said the CPLC chief had helped rescue kidnap victims and reunite them with their families, adding that “the Rangers’ allegations were highly condemnable”.
Hussain said that instead of recognising Chinoy’s services, the paramilitary force was making false accusations against him.
He asked the leadership of the armed forces if the Urdu-speaking community would ever be recognised as Pakistanis.
“The reminiscence of the 1992 operations is still fresh in our minds,” he said. He said the “discriminatory attitude of the Rangers with the CPLC chief” was akin to “bias with the entire Urdu-speaking community”.
— Shamim Bano also contributed to this report