ZAHID AKHTAR, EX- SENATOR OF THE MQM PASSED AWAY IN LONDON

INNAH LILLAH-E-WA-INNAH ILLEHAY RAJEOON

London: 11 July 1999

Ex-Senator Zahid Akhtar passed away in London today. According to details, at around 3 p.m. (London time), he complained of sever pain in his chest. He was immediately rushed to the Northwick Park Hospital in London, where he breathed his last despite all the efforts of the Hospital Staff.

Zahid Akhtar was a senior worker of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM). He was elected as a Haq Parast Councillor in 1987 and chaired several municipal committees. In 1991, he was elected as the Senator on behalf of the MQM in the Senate of Pakistan. After the commencement of the Army Operation in June 1992, he along with the other leaders, office bearers, elected representatives of the MQM, went into hiding. During the operation, his house was raided several times by the law enforcement agencies. In 1994, to record his protest on the atrocities committed upon the MQM in particular and the Mohajirs in general, he volunteered for his arrest, along with other elected representatives of the MQM. In 1995, he was unlawfully arrested by the law enforcement agencies, while he was boarding a flight from Islamabad to Karachi. After his arrest he was kept in unlawful detention in several "safe houses", most severely and brutally beaten up and tortured. Since the time of his arrest his family was made to suffer by the law enforcement agencies by persistently raiding his house and harassing the family members of dire consequences. As a result, he left the country and came to London in 1996, along with his family, and his been living here since then.

Zahid Akhtar has left behind his wife, two sons and two daughters.