KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has ordered the formation of a commission in order to determine the legality of the Karachi operation, DawnNews reported.
The court issued the order during the hearing of a petition filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) pertaining to extra-judicial killings of 12 of its party workers allegedly by law-enforcement agencies.
During the hearing, a Medico-Legal Officer (MLO) submitted a report before the bench which stated that MQM workers were tortured before being killed.
Subsequently, the court ordered that a commission be constituted in order to determine the legality of Karachi operation.
It also ordered for the inclusion of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Director General Rangers Maj-Gen Rizwan Akhter in that commission.
Activists and supporters of the MQM hold regular protests against what they call the enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings of its party workers. They have claimed that personnel of law-enforcement agencies in plain clothes pick up MQM workers and subject them to brutal torture. They have also alleged that in some cases the perpetrators killed their workers and dumped their bodies on the outskirts of the city.
The ongoing operation in Karachi was initiated in September 2013 under a directive issued by the federal government against criminals already identified by federal, military and civilian agencies in view of the declining law and order situation in the country's largest metropolis. The raids are being led by Rangers' forces with the support of police.