Dawn: Rangers arrest MQM Deputy Convener Shahid Pasha
Courtesy Dawn: Link
KARACHI: Rangers personnel arrested Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) Rabita Committee (Coordination Committee) Deputy Convener Shahid Pasha in a raid early on Monday morning.
MQM spokesperson Wasay Jalil confirmed that Pasha was taken by Rangers into their custody during a raid at his apartment in the Gulistan-i-Jauhar area of the metropolis.
The arrest was condemned by MQM's leadership.
The Rangers have not issued an official statement regarding the arrest yet.
Pasha was made deputy convener of the coordination committee a year ago, and is believed to be an important figure in MQM's organisational structure and has held various posts with the political party.
The arrest comes after MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar, in an earlier press conference, had accused the Rangers of torturing and interrogating "40 under-trial prisoners" belonging to the MQM imprisoned at Karachi Central Jail, and "pressuring the workers to leave the party".
He alleged the workers were being forced to fill out a pro forma and told that they would be allotted every facility in prison, cases against them would be withdrawn and they would be released only if they changed their loyalty.