Pashtuns protest against KU student’s ‘extrajudicial murder’

With the Sindh police yet to arrest suspended police officer Rao Anwar and several other cops for their involvement in the extrajudicial murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a large number of Pashtun residents from various parts of the city gathered outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday to protest against the killing of university student Ahmed Shah.

Shah had gone missing from his flat in Scout Colony on the night of February 16 and his body bearing torture marks was found the next day. Twenty-seven-year-old Shah, who belonged to the Bajaur Agency, was a student of Karachi University’s Zoology Department.

Thousands of people attended his funeral in the tribal agency on February 18 and then staged a demonstration against his alleged extrajudicial murder. On the arrival of Shah’s father and brother in Karachi, dozens of Pashtun residents, mainly belonging to Bajaur and residing in Karachi, organised a protest at the Karachi Press Club against the murder and demanded from the government to arrest his killers.

Holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the Karachi police, the protesters demanded of the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice of the student. Leaders and workers from various political parties and student groups, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Awami National Party and the Pashtun Students Federation, also joined the protest to show solidarity with the victim’s family.

Salman Shah, the slain student’s brother, told the protesters that his brother was a peaceful person and studying at the Zoology Department for a master’s programme. The victim had also been doing a part-time job to meet his educational expenses.

‘Enforced disappearance’

Protesting against the alleged forced disappearance of another man, Hasan Shah, on Saturday, his relatives and friends as well as civil society activists demanded of the authorities to release the young activist and debater.

According to family and friends, two of them eyewitnesses, 27-year-old Shah had been picked up on February 5 from near the Arts Council by plainclothes law enforcement officials. He had been coming back from a hotel to the Arts Council after taking part in a debate competition on the eve of Kashmir Day. Since then, his whereabouts have been unknown.

Shah is a resident of Metrovelle area in SITE Town and belongs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Charsadda district. A number of Shah’s friends and relatives and civil society activists gathered outside the Karachi Press Club to demand of the authorities to ensure his release. Holding placards, activists chanted slogans for the orator’s immediate recovery.

Shah’s elder brother said that the orator had no affiliation with any political party and was mainly involved in youth activism and debate competitions. The family has registered a case at the Artillery police station.