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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has asked Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain to submit an affidavit by Dec 21 to help it initiate proceedings in a case pertaining to the murder of his brother and nephew in 1995, the party’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar told Dawn on Saturday.
The MQM chief wrote to Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Oct 19, requesting him to take notice of the murder of his elder brother Nasir Hussain and nephew Arif Hussain some 16 years ago in Karachi.
Mr Sattar, who is in Multan in connection with preparations for the party’s public meeting, said he would submit the reply on behalf of Mr Hussain after consulting lawyers.
Through the letter the MQM chief informed the chief justice that on the night between Dec 5 and 6 in 1995, police, Rangers and other law-enforcement personnel had conducted an “unlawful and unwarranted” raid on the residence of his 70-year-old brother in Federal B area and arrested his 28-year-old nephew, who was a student of the NED University. Nasir Hussain was arrested the following day.
He said his brother was a retired gazetted officer and he and his son had nothing to do with politics. They were not even affiliated to the MQM.
Mr Hussain said that law-enforcement personnel had also tried to arrest his other brothers and sisters, but they were not home at that time.
He alleged that his brother and nephew had been brutally tortured for three days and then taken to Gadap area on the outskirts of Karachi where they were killed and their bodies thrown away. He said he had collected their bodies from an Edhi centre. “No one has paid any attention to the investigation of their murder despite repeated demands,” he said and requested the chief justice to convert his letter into a constitutional petition and issue orders for an investigation into the case.
“If the honourable chief justice solves this mystery for upholding the rule of law and for defending justice, he will also come to know about the mysterious disappearances of thousands of arrested persons,” the letter said.
