[Dawn] SHOCKING is the only way one can describe the police raid on a PIA official's home and his subsequent detention. Irshad Ali Rind, deputy shift manager, was on duty at the Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
airport where the inspector general of police, Sindh, was due to arrive for a Sukkur-bound flight. The police chief was late and his protocol staff asked Mr Rind to delay the flight. The PIA official said he had no authority to do so, with the result that the flight departed on time, leaving Mr Shah behind.
On Tuesday, 20 coppers, led by the district superintendent of police, Clifton and the Boat Basin station house officer, arrived at Mr Rind's apartment, threatened to open fire if he didn't open the door, ransacked his home and dragged him to a police van.
He was taken to the Boat Basin cop shoppe where, he alleged, he was not allowed to sleep and was mentally tortured. Mr Rind would perhaps still have been in the lock-up had the Sindh home minister not responded to pleas by the PIA labour union and officers' association.
Subsequently, the SHO was suspended, but no action was taken against the DSP. The IGP has himself chosen to keep quiet, and there is no evidence to suggest that the raid was carried out on his instructions. The real issue is police behaviour. Even if Mr Rind had, for argument's sake, violated the law, the police should have followed due process. Apparently the coppers acted to please their chief, and in that process did not care that they were violating something that they are supposed to uphold -- the law. We demand a full investigation and action against those involved in the raid on an innocent citizen's home, his arrest and alleged torture.