Rangers obtain 90-day remand of MQM deputy convener Shahid Pasha

KARACHI: Rangers arrested Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Deputy Convener Shahid Pasha in a pre-dawn raid at his residence on Monday and obtained a 90-day remand of the MQM leader.

The news of Pasha's arrest had first been reported by members of the MQM, who claimed that paramilitary forces had arrested Pasha from Billy’s Paradise, his apartment building in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, at 3:00 a.m in the morning.

A statement issued fromt he party's Nine-Zero headquarters said Rangers personnel carried out a complete search of Pasha's house during the raid.  Rangers personnel did not state why he was arrested and where he was being taken, claimed the MQM statement.

But later in the day, Rangers presented the accused in an anti-terrorism court where the Rangers  law officer asked the administrative judge for a 90-day remand of the MQM leader.

He said that Pasha was arrested on information from intelligence agencies. The law officer claimed that the MQM leader was accused of involvement in target-killings, running terrorism activities, and facilitating and supplying terrorists with weapons.

The court granted the Rangers' request for a 90-day remand. The judge also formed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and summoned a report from it in two weeks' time.