PAKISTAN: THOUSANDS MOURN FOR MURDERED RELATIVES OF ETHNIC PARTY LEADER ATLAF HUSSAIN / SIX PEOPLE KILLED IN FRESH VIOLENCE

Record ID: 319184

  • Title: PAKISTAN: THOUSANDS MOURN FOR MURDERED RELATIVES OF ETHNIC PARTY LEADER ATLAF HUSSAIN / SIX PEOPLE KILLED IN FRESH VIOLENCE
  • Date: 12th December 1995
  • Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (DECEMBER 12, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV POLICE SECURITY ON TOP OF BUILDING 0.04 2. SV CHIEF ORGANISER OF MQM (MOHAJIR NATIONAL MOVEMENT), SHOIB BUKHARI, WALKS INTO MORGUE 0.22 3. SV PEOPLE REMOVING BODY OF VICTIM 0.30 4. SV AMBULANCE CARRYING BODY TO FUNERAL GROUND 0.40 5. SV RELATIVE OF VICTIM CRYING 0.52 6. SCU MUSHID HUSSAIN, OPPOSITION PARTY SPOKESMAN, SPEAKING (ENGLISH) 1.01 7. SV CROWDS OF PEOPLE MOURNING 1.18 8. SV CROWDS OF PEOPLE CARRYING COFFINS THROUGH STREETS 1.30 SEQUENCE 6 TRANSCRIPT: HUSSAIN "ALL PEACE-LOVING, ALL DEMOCRATIC AND ALL SANE PEOPLE IN PAKISTAN CONDEMN THIS CRIME." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 27th December 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARACHI, PAKISTAN
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan ASIA
  • Reuters ID: LVA2SGVDBDUUQTQU88THBYPYMT5M
  • Story Text: Thousands of people turned out in Karachi on Tuesday (December 12) to mourn the murdered relatives of ethnic party leader Altaf Hussain.

    Witnesses said at least 4,000 people gathered for the funerals of Nasir Hussain, 60 and Arif Hussain, 28, the brother and nephew of the Mohajir National Movement (MQM) chief.

    Mourners accused Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of responsibility for the deaths of the pair, whose tortured and bullet-riddled bodies were found in Karachi on Saturday (December 9).

    "Bhutto is the murderer," they chanted, showering rose petals on the two white-shrouded coffins as they were buried at Yasinabad graveyard in District Central.

    MQM Senator Ishtiaq Azhar fainted as the bodies were lowered into the grave. Young MQM activists hurled stones at police who did not retaliate. In clashes in other areas, police fired in the air to deter stone-throwing demonstrators.

    The government has denied any part in the killings, which the MQM said were in revenge for the murder on November 23 of the brother of Sindh province Chief Minister Abdullah Shah. The MQM says its men did not kill Shah's brother.

    Hussain, who has lived in self-imposed exile in London since 1992, has lodged a formal complaint against Bhutto, President Farooq Leghari, Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar, Shah and other officials for the killings of his kinsmen.

    Police said six people were killed in Karachi on Tuesday, including three gunmen they said had attacked an armoured troop carrier in the troubled Liaquatabad district of Karachi.

    More than 1,800 people have died in ethnic and sectarian violence in the sprawling southern port this year.

    The government says Hussain is orchestrating the unrest while the MQM accuses security agencies of persecuting its members.


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