Karachi, January 28, 2023 (PPI-OT):A representative organisation of youth here Saturday staged a protest against release of the killers of Naqeebullah Mehsood and expressed their dismay over the failure of policing system, particularly in the megacity of Karachi. The protest demo was staged by the youths organisation, Alternate, in front of the Karachi Press Club (KPC), led by Alternate leaders Aqib Hussain and Shahzad Mughal. A large number of youths, political and social and journalist organisations attended the demo.
Addressing the demo Aqib Hussain of Alternate said the release of the killers of Naqeebullah Mehsood proves that Pakistan has completely become a police state. The law enforcement agencies, especially the police, instead of providing security to the citizens, kidnap them in extra judicial fashion, extort bribery from them and even kill them.
He said five years ago, plainclothes on the orders of Rao Anwar kidnapped Naqeebullah Mehsood along with his two friends and tortured them in a police station and threatened them of life in case of non-payment of extortion money. In the police torture, Naqeebullah Mehsood was killed and his body was dumped near a farm house near Usman Khaskheli village of Karachi, issuing a statement that he belonged to terrorist outfits of Taliban and Lashkar Janghvi. However, in 2019, the court declared Naqeebullah Mehsood an innocent citizen.
Alternate Group leader Shahzad Mughal said that Naqeebullah Mehsood along with his family migrated to Karachi from Waziristan due to operation of law enforcers in Waziristan and due to fear of agencies. He didn’t belong to any political party. Like other youth he would express his feeling in different ways on social media. He said the police in order to save the cops involved in his murder misguided courts. He said this act also compelled the society to think that police and police stations have become dens of crime and killing fields of innocent citizens.
He said the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsood has proved that law and justice in our society is a toy in the hands of powerful mafias that ensure that their criminals are not punished by the courts. He said all these powerful quarters stand behind the notorious anti-human rights police officer like Rao Anwar and are bent to prove his innocent. He said sadly all political parties that chant the slogan of democracy have adopted a mum on the recent verdict of court in Naqeebullah Mehsood case that shows the police officers involved in extra judicial killings of citizens have got the backing of the powerful quarters.
He said former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa had promised with the father of Naqeebullah Mehsood that he would be doled out justice, but the justice bowed down in front of Rao Anwar. He said the blood of Naqeebullah Mehsood would not go waste and his killers would ultimately would be taken to the task as per law and justice.
On the occasion, Alternate paid rich tributes to the legal teams that fought the case of Naqeebullah Mehsood. They said that they would stage organised protests against lawlessness and police excesses.
Alternate Group leaders Iqbal Abro, Shaima, Sajid Afridi, Ainee, Faiza, Himay Ali and Barkat, National Trade Union Federation general secretary Nasir Mansoor, Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) secretary general Zahra Khan, Saira Feroze, Lyari Awami Mehaz secretary general Abdul Khaliq Zarqan, Rehman Baloch civil society leader, Asghar Dashti, dean of IR department Federal Urdu University, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan vice chairman Qazi Khizr, notes journalist Mehnaz Rehman, veteran labour leader Karamat Ali, Faheem Siddiqui of Karachi Union of Journalists, Comrade Sajad Zaheer of Anjumam Taraqi Pasand Musanfeen, central coordinator of PTM Hidayatullah Mehsood and other social and political leaders spoke on the occasion.
For more information, contact:
Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF)
726, Mashrique Centre, Block 14, Gulshan-e-Iqbal,
Karachi, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-37075324
Website: https://hbwwf.org/