URGENT ACTION APPEAL

Khalid Murtuza, a paraplegic former office bearer of the MQM arrested in Karachi, southern Pakistan

Karachi: November 8, 1998

Yesterday, on 7^th. November 1998, at around 11.00 p.m., Pakistan time, a former office bearer of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), Mr Khalid Murtuza was arrested from his home, in Karachi.

Mr Khalid Murtuza had suffered serious spinal injuries, when an Official of the Law Enforcement Agencies, after having a meeting with Mr Khalid Murtuza, the leader of the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agents), the Labour Union of Pakistan Steel Mills, Karachi, shot him from point blank range, at the end of the meeting, publicly, in April 1990.

Mr Khalid Murtuza had received rehabilitation treatment at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Berkshire, England for several months.

Mr Khalid Murtuza was also arrested and tortured during the State Operation that was launched on 19^th. June 1992, against the MQM in particular and the Mohajir Nation in general.

Despite all atrocities and the State terrorism against the MQM and the Mohajir Nation, the MQM in accordance with the aspirations of Mohajirs and religious and cultural ethno-linguistic minorities will not support "Shariat Bill" of the Prime Minister in the Senate of Pakistan.