‘Missing’ PQM chief Iqbal Kazmi has no link with any MQM faction, says family

Wife asks LEAs to release her husband or take him to court

The whereabouts of Karachi-based social activist Syed Iqbal Kazmi who went ‘missing’ on January 17 are still unknown, and his family protesting outside the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday alleged that he was picked up by law enforcement agencies.

Kazmi, who is also head of the Pakistan Qaumi Movement, went missing after the MQM-London announced it would participate in the PQM rally scheduled for January 21.

His wife Saadia Kazmi, who was protesting along with children, said her husband was taken away by men in plainclothes from Sharea Fasial on the afternoon of July 21.

“My husband is not a terrorist nor does he have links with any faction of the MQM,” she told The News.

“You will not see any MQM supporters in today’s protest. Only we, Kazmi’s children and relatives, are protesting.”

Iqbal Kazmi, a resident of Jaffar Tayyar Society, Malir, is known for moving petitions in high-profile cases, including the May 12 carnage, Ashura blast and rights of street children, in various courts as well as for campaigning against MQM-London supremo Altaf Hussain. 

Saadia said that despite the history of her husband’s past campaigns, his arrest showed that law enforcement agencies had a misunderstanding about him.

“We demand from the law enforcement agencies to release Iqbal Kazmi or present him in the court,” she said. 

Kazmi was formerly associated with the Human Rights Commission South Asia and in mid-January, surprisingly, appeared at the platform of the PQM, a political party registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). 

In a press conference in Islamabad, he announced a rally in Karachi scheduled for January 21 in coordination with the MQM-London.

MQM-Pakistan chief Dr Farooq Sattar, in a January 22 gathering in Surjani Town, said that they would not allow Kazmi and Rehman Malik, a PPP’s central leader and former federal interior minister, to become owner of the MQM.

“Kazmi was the person who was known for filing the petitions against the MQM supremo and now there is a conspiracy to hand over the MQM to him,” he said.