KARACHI: In a press statement released on Friday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain raised 14 questions for Army chief General Raheel Sharif over the recent arrest of party workers and raids on MQM offices.

The MQM held sit-ins across Karachi on Thursday against the arrest of party workers from a sector office in Karachi. The party claimed that Rangers and security forces had unlawfully detained its workers during the ongoing Rangers-led operation against criminal elements in the metropolis.

In the statement sent to reporters and uploaded on the MQM website, Altaf said 41 party workers went missing since the Rangers started the operation in Karachi.

He claimed that several MQM workers picked up by the Rangers had been tortured to death and asked the army chief if the military had punished any officers or personnel involved in such acts.

Also read: MQM calls off sit-ins protesting workers arrest

Referring to the Supreme Court's verdict in the Karachi unrest case in which the bench had identified that several political and religious parties – including the Awami National Party (ANP), Sunni Tehreek, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), MQM, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and certain sectarian groups — had militant wings active in the metropolis, Altaf asked why the security forces targeted only MQM workers and their houses and offices.

Altaf raised questions over events that took place during the time of the operation in Karachi in 1992, and the words and actions of then army chief General Asif Nawaz Janjua and Brigadier Asif Haroon. He also referred to the alleged torture and political assassination in 1995 of his brother and nephew, who he said were not affiliated with either the MQM or any other political organisation.

Altaf also asked the army chief if security forces were allowed to racially and verbally abuse Urdu-speaking suspects when they raided their homes, and accuse them and their families of being Indian spies on account of their ethnicity.

He asked why the Rangers did not act against anti-government protesters in Islamabad who were involved in attacks on government buildings in the capital.

Raising questions concerning the recent arrests of MQM workers carried out by Rangers in Karachi, Altaf asked if the MQM, like some political parties, would be similarly allowed to protest in the high-security Red Zone of Islamabad for a period of 40 days?