Tariq Mehboob… what was the cause of his death in state custody?
Something is seriously wrong with the way Pakistan treats its detainees in custody. Its a frightening fact that so many apparently healthy men can enter the care of the state and within a week fall foul of a “heart attack” …and some very young men at that. Then families are often contacted to quietly collect bodies for burial, which appear to have strange marks resembling torture. They are then told not to make a fuss or file any First Investigation Report (FIR) or there will be further problems for the family.
“Heart attack” deaths are particularly common in young men from Waziristan and Balochistan that end up in the hands of State agencies.
The latest “heart attack” victim as reported by DAWN media is Anjuman Naujwanan-i-Islam (ANI) chief and member of Sunni Ittehad Council Tariq Mehboob who died in custody on Saturday. It is not clear whether his death took place in Central Jail Karachi or Rangers’ custody, DAWN states,
“last week, Mehboob and seven others were picked up by paramilitary force personnel near Yousuf Plaza in Block 16 of Federal B area, and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
The ANI chief was accused of providing refuge to target killers which is punishable under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.”
The family of the deceased man alleges that he was tortured in detention and that his death was an “extra-judicial killing”. Kamran Haider tweeted the following,
“this (torture) is a common practice in Karachi. Muhajir Urdu speaking & MQM workers’s brutally tortured bodies were found on streets”
“his post-mortem examination results are expected to be received in one week”
“hopefully they will release report but they have all power to hide or change results too”
JAAG TV tweeted,
“UPDATE: Post Mortem of Tariq Mehboob completed, Doctor says no mark of torture found, report reserved, Karachi”
Tariq Mehboob in a Facebook profile picture (via Dawn)
Whatever the allegations made against Mehboob whether he was or wasn’t involved in “facilitating and providing financial support to target killers” the state itself has a “duty of care” to those in detention that must be provided WITHIN the law and not include any form of torture.
PTI official account on Twitter stated PTI member, Ali Haider Zaidi “wants an inquiry into Tariq Mehboob’s death in ranger’s custody” which is all well and good. However PTI must not forget to also call for an investigation into the spate of deaths in custody and extra-judicial killings that incited the Peshawar Army School (PAS) attack by Pakistan Tehreek -e-Taliban (TTP) on 16th December 2014 which led to over 140 deaths with many injured. All warnings to stop torture in custody in the weeks BEFORE the attack were ignored including my own.
As I wrote also just after the PAS attack,
“it is shocking to see large numbers of Pakistanis justifying and indeed celebrating torture, time after time despite this being against the law. In her article, The Poisoned Orchard of Torture, Professor Danielle Celermajer (University of Sydney) argues that ‘torture does not occur because of depraved people, but because of pathological situations – or as one social scientist put it, poisoned orchards not bad apples.’ The poisoned orchards of Pakistan (detention centres) have been bearing fruit at an alarming rate.”
Sadly torture is Pakistan has become so widespread many now collaborate to hide the practice when it suits. A fact that is often missed is that torture cases in custody also lead to retaliation attacks and some of those tortured (if they were linked to terrorism before) have gone on to join insurgent groups BECAUSE of abuse in custody, see following link,
“Pakistan, terrorism and torture, how I was radicalized by the state”
There have been calls for the formation of a judicial commission to investigate Mehboob’s death however there is a need for much wider research and investigation into the systems that allow such behaviour and the consequences for the country which are often far-reaching as the PAS attack demonstrated.
Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.
Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog 