Sindh, federal govts’ silence over Aftab Ahmed’s death unreasonable

‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ on Thursday

KARACHI: The host of Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, Shahzeb Khanzada, said on the programme on Thursday that three days have passed since the death of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist, Aftab Ahmed, and the postmortem report has confirmed torture on Aftab Ahmed. However, the Sindh government and the federal government have been silent over the matter, which is an unreasonable thing. Shahzeb said that the government’s silence over the matter is making the Karachi operation controversial.

Shahzeb said that the findings of the investigation report in Aftab Ahmed case must be made public, and action should be taken in the matter. He said the case should be used to prevent such things from happening in future.

Commenting on the killing of two PIA employees on February 2 during a protest by the employees of airline, Shahzeb said that the DG Rangers had announced a high-level investigation committee to investigate into the matter. The Sindh government had also formed an investigation committee in this regard. However, three months have passed since the incident happened, but nobody knows about the result of the investigation into the matter.

Shahzeb said that if the investigation into the killing of the PIA employees had been conducted, then the incident of Aftab Ahmed’s death might not have occurred.

Shahzeb Khanzada said that the investigative institutions of Sindh had been avoiding signing the JIT of a Fisheries employee, Dil Murad. Officers of sensitive agencies and the Rangers have signed the JIT of Dil Murad, but the officers of Sindh Police, the Special Branch and the CTD have not signed it.

Shahzeb said that a similar situation had emerged on the JIT of Uzair Baloch. First a comprehensive JIT of Uzair Baloch had emerged, which contained confession by Uzair Baloch of the crimes committed as well as political connections. On this JIT too, the investigative institutions of Sindh had not been willing to sign.

Commenting on the very sad incident in Abbottabad in which a 16-year-old teenager Ambreen was burnt to death, Shahzeb Khanzada said that the tragic incident reminds one of the Stone Age. He said that Ambreen was burnt alive according to a verdict delivered by a Jirga.

Shahzeb said that Ambreen’s alleged demeanor was that she had known about the elopement of a class fellow of hers. Ambreen’s mother and the people of the area had been privy to the secret, but none of them had the courage to stand up to the verdict of the Jirga.

In a different segment of the programme, Shahzeb Khanzada said that the Pakistan Stock Exchange has been very vibrant recently despite the fact that a situation of political instability is seen to have been emerging. Nevertheless, the index of the stock exchange has touched the peak.

Commenting on the incident in which Nayyar Bukhari had misbehaved with a guard, Shahzeb Khanzada said that those who have high positions in the legislative assemblies have been abusing the law.

He said that the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah, reacted over the matter of reporting of the incident. Ironically, Khursheed Shah watched the video of the incident and yet he had not been apologetic over the matter.

Shahzeb Khanzada said that Nayyar Bukhari, who is a former chairman of the Senate, has termed registration of a case against him over slapping as a conspiracy. He said that Bukhari cannot deny what the video is showing. He should avoid creating confusion over the matter. Instead, he should look into the incident in which a guard who had been simply performing his duty was slapped.

Shahzeb Khanzada said that the video clearly shows that when the guard tried to frisk Nayyar Bukhari, he just pushed him, and then his (Nayyar Bukhari’s) son slapped the guard. Meanwhile, the chairman of Arif Habib Group, Arif Habib, said that Pakistani investors are used to the political roller coasters.

He said businessmen think that politicians are mature enough not to derail democracy. He said that withdrawal of foreign investments from the stock exchange has stopped, and this is one of the factors behind the vigorous rise in the market.