MQM Coordination Committee Condemns Widespread Arrests of political activists in Karachi and Hyderabad
The MQM's Coordination Committee has strongly condemned the illegal raids, arrests, and enforced disappearances of innocent MQM workers by police, Rangers, and plainclothes personnel in Karachi and Hyderabad. In a statement issued from London on April 11, 2025, the committee said that the Sindh government led by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is using brutal force to crush peaceful protests against the controversial and anti-Sindh canal-extraction project from the Indus River.
These actions represent a blatant violation of human rights, an assault on democratic freedoms, and a cruel campaign of political revenge.
The Coordination Committee stated that on Thursday, April 10, a peaceful protest was held in Hyderabad by members of the legal fraternity against the canal-extraction plan. MQM workers also participated in this constitutional and non-violent demonstration.
In retaliation for their participation, the PPP-led Sindh government launched a wave of aggressive midnight raids starting that very night, targeting MQM workers in both Karachi and Hyderabad.
In Hyderabad, MQM workers Muhammad Tufail, Zameer alias Babloo, Faisal Khan, Abdul Majeed, Abdul Malik, and a worker from the Security Committee, Faraz Durrani, were arrested from Latifabad and surrounding areas. The crackdown continued into the next day, Friday, April 11, when MQM Sector D worker Mudassir Qureshi was abducted by plainclothes officers from his shop. His whereabouts remain unknown. The sole “crime” of these individuals is their participation in a peaceful, lawful rally organised by the Hyderabad Lawyers Forum to protest the diversion of Indus River waters.
Simultaneously, similar raids were carried out across Karachi on Thursday night. Among those arrested were Jehanzaib and Naveed Shehzad from Malir, Aslam Parvez from Landhi Unit 81, Kamran and Muhammad Shaheen from Unit 86, Adnan Naseem from Surjani Town, Ikram from Gulshan-e Iqbal, Shafi Khanzada from Gulistan-e Jauhar, senior member Aslam from Gulbahar Colony, and Rehan Siddiqui from Shah Faisal Colony. All of them were taken from their homes without warrants and shifted to unknown locations. During the raids, state forces employed excessive force, breaking doors, harassing women and children, and trampling upon the sanctity of homes.
It denounced these arrests as a continuation of PPP’s racist and anti-Sindh policies. The committee said that by targeting MQM workers for participating in a peaceful protest, the PPP government has clearly demonstrated its intent to forcefully implement the canal-extraction project at any cost, even if it means using state institutions to silence opposition. Such actions go against the very spirit of democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law.
It demanded an immediate end to these raids and arrests, and called for the unconditional release of all detainees. The committee also urged that state institutions be depoliticized and made to operate within the bounds of the Constitution and the law. MQM, the statement added, believes in peaceful struggle and stands firmly with its imprisoned, missing, and detained workers. The party will continue to raise its voice at every legal, public, and democratic forum until their release and safe return is secured.