MQM-L leader Dr Hasan Zafar Arif found dead in Karachi

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London leader Dr Hasan Zafar Arif was found dead under controversial circumstances on the backseat of his car in the Ibrahim Hyderi area on Sunday morning.

Seventy-three-year-old Dr Hasan, a marxist and former professor of philosophy at the Karachi University, was the Pakistan head of pro-Altaf Hussain MQM-London that faces a blanket ban in the country.

His brother, Qamar Arif, told The News that he was missing since Saturday and the family got to know about his demise when electronic media reported the recovery of a dead body from a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Dr Hasan was tasked with the reorganizing of the MQM-L these days after the whole party set-up was dissolved by Altaf Hussain on December 31. He was conducting meetings with political workers on daily basis.

Abdul Majeed Karwani, a lawyer associated with the MQM-L, said that Dr Hasan left for home in Defence from his office in Saddar at around 6:30pm on Saturday after postponing all the engagements scheduled later in the day.

"He said he will spend time with his daughter who was scheduled to fly back to England on Sunday," Karwani said adding that he and other leaders of the party escorted him to the parking lot of their office.

Even in this age, Dr Hasan was healthy and drove the car himself, Karwani added, "We have been working day and night for months on party affairs and he never complained of any illness."

Dr Hasan was laid to rest in the Sakhi Hasan graveyard in North Nazimabad after his funeral prayers were offered after the Isha prayers at Jamia Anwarul Uloom in Federal B Area.

The Ibrahim Hyderi police station’s Head Moharir (HM), Faisal Iqbal, told The News that they received a call from police helpline 15 Madadgaar, which had earlier received a call from an unknown caller, who informed that a man was found unconscious on the backseat of a car in Ilyas Goth.

He added a police party reached the site and recovered the dead body of 75-year-old man from a car bearing registration number ANC-016, silver Lancer, and shifted it to the Jinnah Postgraduate Centre (JPMC) for post-mortem where he was identified as Professor Dr Hasan Zafar Arif, son of Maqbool Hassan.

JPMC's Executive Director Dr Seemi Jamali told The News that a 75-year-old man was brought dead to the hospital, and the body was shifted directly to the mortuary for autopsy.

She said later she had come to know that the dead body was identified as MQM-L Deputy Convener Professor Dr Hasan Zafar Arif. She added a team of JPMC Medico-Legal Officers (MLOs), headed over by Additional Police Surgeon (APS) Dr Sheeraz Ahmed, had performed autopsy on the body of Professor Dr Hasan Zafar Arif.

When Dr Jamali was asked about the possible cause of death, she said that he was a 75-year-old man, and he could have died of any reason. JPMC APS Dr Sheeraz Ahmed told The News that a team of MLOs had performed complete CT Scan of the body of Professor Dr Hasan Zafar Arif, but they did not find any mark of violence on the body.

Dr Ahmed said that MLOs have performed complete internal autopsy of the body and reserved the report for expert opinion. He added samples were collected from stomach of the body for chemical examination, and the samples were handed over to chemical examiner for his report.

District Malir Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar told The News that police established contact with the deceased's family, and it was told that he was with Advocate Abdul Majeed in his office at Fareed Chambers till 7:00pm on Saturday night.

SSP Anwar said the family claimed that Advocate Abdul Majeed told them that he drove the car himself from his office to his residence in the DHA. He added the family claimed that they called him to locate him at 9:30pm on Saturday night, but his cellphone was found switched-off.