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                        <title>The Express Tribune</title>
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                        <description>The Express Tribune keeps you up to date with all the latest happenings from Pakistan and across the world!</description>
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			<title>On May 12’s anniversary, ex-judge wants progress report</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/378014/on-may-12%e2%80%99s-anniversary-ex-judge-wants-progress-report</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/378014/on-may-12%e2%80%99s-anniversary-ex-judge-wants-progress-report#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 13 May 12 04:55:31 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[obaid.abbasi]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[The petition seeks updates on compensation to victims, tracking of culprits.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Five years after the May 12 violence in Karachi, a former judge moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking details on the steps taken to name the culprits.


Advocate Saeed Khurshid, who resigned in 2007 following Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chadhry’s ouster, filed a writ petition seeking the complete data of the victims of violence in Karachi on May 12, 2007.

Making the interior and Punjab home department secretaries, the inspectors general of the Punjab, Sindh and Islamabad police forces, the Pakistan, Punjab and Sindh bar councils, and the Sindh High Court registrar respondents, the petitioner maintained that no substantial steps have been taken for the nomination of culprits or to compensate the victims’ families.

The petition maintains that it is also important to know what happened to their families after the killings. He said that SHC took suo motu notice of the issue and the findings should be made public.

He asked some fundamental questions in his petition about the incident, asking whether the Supreme Court (SC) took suo motu notice of the issue or if the human rights cell had ever pursued the issue as a matter of public concern.

The IHC registrar’s office had raised an objection on the petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Anniversary: Lawyers, political parties demand justice for May 12 victims</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377986/anniversary-lawyers-political-parties-demand-justice-for-may-12-victims</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377986/anniversary-lawyers-political-parties-demand-justice-for-may-12-victims#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 23:53:55 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Rallies and general body meetings were held in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Rallies and general body meetings were held in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions on Saturday to commemorate May 12, 2007’s anniversary.


The lawyers were supported by the Awami National Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Awami Tehreek, Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and other smaller political and civil society groups.

In Hyderabad, the Sindh High Court Bar Association and district bar association boycotted courts. They organised a gathering where the lawyers recalled that day and called for a thorough inquiry. “Justice for victims can’t be achieved without an impartial inquiry and without making public the findings of that report and affixing responsibility,” said advocate Nisar Durrani, the president of the HDBA.

In Tando Muhammad Khan and Jamshoro, the district bar associations held rallies and protests outside the courts.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>‘Only taking the May 12 petitions to their logical end will stop this from happening again’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377982/%e2%80%98only-taking-the-may-12-petitions-to-their-logical-end-will-stop-this-from-happening-again%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377982/%e2%80%98only-taking-the-may-12-petitions-to-their-logical-end-will-stop-this-from-happening-again%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 23:52:23 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Anwar Mansoor Khan, the president of the SHCBA, believes that something can still be done.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Five years have passed since Karachi’s bloodiest day but not a soul has been convicted.


A key lawyer, Anwar Mansoor Khan, the president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, believes, however, that something can still be done.

“The identification, arrest, trial and conviction if charges are proven against an individual is almost impossible because of a lack of evidence,” he told The Express Tribune. “But the courts can still examine the television footage.” This material was submitted to a full bench that was hearing the May 12 petitions. There are photographs as well.

“A decision could be delivered to prevent a similar incident from taking place in future,” he said. The superior courts shall re-open the May 12 cases and decide them on merit in the larger national interest, he added.

About 50 people were killed and hundreds were injured that day. The city’s streets were blocked with shipping containers and Karachi was taken over with young men accessorised with guns and a sense of iron-clad immunity. They rode around in cars belly-full with ammo.

Rallies were stopped from heading to the Karachi airport where the suspended chief justice had arrived. He waited for hours to be given clearance to travel to the Sindh High Court where he was scheduled to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of the bar association. The programme was postponed and he was flown back as the police said they were unable to ensure safe passage.

The Sindh High Court took notice on its own of the violence as its judges were manhandled and prevented from entering the court’s premises. A number of petitions were filed by the bar association and a local social worker. They are awaiting adjudication.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Leaders hold govt responsible for May 12</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/378000/leaders-hold-govt-responsible-for-may-12</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/378000/leaders-hold-govt-responsible-for-may-12#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 22:53:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Parties call for unity to demand justice and expose those responsible.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Five years after the killings on May 12, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and several other political and religious parties have adopted a resolution to demand the government apprehend and expose those responsible.


At a national conference organised by JI at the Regent Plaza Hotel, the party chief Syed Munawar Hassan placed the blame squarely on a coalition partner in the government. When asked if that particular party had been invited to the conference, Hassan replied, “We would invite the […] if it were a political party, but political parties have different cultures and aims from terrorist organisations”.

The Awami National Party leader, Shahi Syed, said that a military operation should be carried out against criminals in Karachi but Hassan did not advocate a military solution, saying that the military cannot find a solution to Karachi’s problems. Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf compared the state of the judiciary today with the events on May 12, saying that the judiciary still isn’t free and that the government does not accept the Supreme Court’s decisions.

The process of litigation into May 12 had been impeded and the court’s doors had been forcibly shut, declared the Karachi Bar Association president, Mehmoodul Hassan. The party members called for unity between the parties to pressure the government into carrying out justice. The Pakistan People’s Party was held responsible for giving patronage to those behind the chaos on May 12.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>May 12 mayhem: ‘The day will continue to haunt the nation’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377984/may-12-mayhem-%e2%80%98the-day-will-continue-to-haunt-the-nation%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377984/may-12-mayhem-%e2%80%98the-day-will-continue-to-haunt-the-nation%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 22:42:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zeeshan.mujahid]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=377984</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Former bar chief demands that its perpetrators should be identified and exposed.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The mayhem witnessed on May 12, 2007, will continue to haunt the nation unless several key questions are answered regarding those responsible for the killing of more than 50 people and the disappearance of police and Rangers on the fateful day when the city witnessed worst ever breakdown in law and order, says Abrar Hasan, who was the president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association at the time.


In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, Abrar Hasan said that the nation must know who was pulling the strings from Islamabad, what orders were issued from the federal capital and who, acting upon these instructions, killed dozens of innocent citizens and held the entire city hostage at gunpoint.

Recalling the events that preceded the arrival of then non-functional Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Abrar Hasan said that after a tumultuous welcome accorded to the chief justice in different cities, a much bigger show was expected in Karachi and this must have made the people at the helm of affairs jittery which is why they decided to stop the chief justice from entering Karachi.

He disclosed that on the eve of the CJP’s visit, the city government had dug a ditch in front of the main gate of Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum amid apprehensions of his possible visit to the site.

Abrar said that he was in contact with a major political group of Karachi and it had given a clear understanding that the CJP’s visit would be facilitated.

“The Sindh governor called us to Governor House on May 11 and inquired about the arrangements and programme for the chief justice visit,” Abrar said, adding that the governor even asked about the number of vehicles which would proceed to Karachi airport to receive him and bring him in a cavalcade to the Sindh High Court.

“We told the governor that there would be about 100 vehicles in the convoy. We were assured a safe passage. We came to the high court from Governor House after an hour-long meeting and gave final touches to the programme. We left after an hour and till then everything was okay. There were no obstacles,” he said.

“I stayed at a friend’s place that night and in the morning when I tried to reach the high court, I saw containers and water tankers placed to block the roads leading to the high court building. I also received telephone calls informing me of the law and order situation in Karachi and the siege of the high court building,” recalled Hasan, adding that he somehow managed to reach the SHC boundary where he was soon joined by Justice Mushir Alam who called the nazir of the high court asking him to bring the keys of a gate connecting the SHC building to the Sindh Secretariat. The then Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, Sabihuddin Ahmed, also arrived moments later.

Hasan said that the Sindh police chief, DIG Karachi and provincial home secretary were summoned by the late Justice Sabihuddin who asked them to remove the barricades.

“Without mincing words, the top officials told Justice Sabihuddin that they were helpless and could not remove the barricades. Learning about this, the lawyers lost their cool but I some how managed to control them,” said Hasan.

In the meantime, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had already landed at the Karachi airport. At that time he received a call from a Sindh minister “Siddiqui” who preferred to speak in a harsh tone while hurling abuse.

“He (the minister) asked me to tell the chief justice to return to Islamabad. I told him that the chief justice was here on our invitation therefore I could not ask him to go back. I also reminded the minister that we had already been assured of safe passage,” said Hasan. He recalled that even the governor had called him amid the bloodshed but he “did not receive any call from Sindh home minister Waseem Akhtar. However, I received a letter from him in response to one of the communications by us and from that I could gauge the real intentions.”

After day-long violence in the city, in the evening the Sindh administration issued a notification ordering the deportation of the chief justice upon which he took a flight back to Islamabad, he said.

“The entire exercise was to stop Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the man who was the torchbearer of the rule of law and supremacy of the constitution.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>May 12 mayhem: The courts can’t do a thing if the govt turns hostile, says CJ</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377980/the-courts-can%e2%80%99t-do-a-thing-if-the-govt-turns-hostile-says-cj</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377980/the-courts-can%e2%80%99t-do-a-thing-if-the-govt-turns-hostile-says-cj#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 22:32:42 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[On May 12, author­ities told the SHC CJ that only bodies could enter the court.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[For the anniversary of May 12, 2007, a day when at least 46 people died in pitched street battles, Sindh’s lawyers and judiciary picked the terribly appropriate theme of the rule of law and the duty of the government.


“The courts are equipped with moral authority alone and are devoid of administrative powers,” declared Chief Justice Mushir Alam. “They are rendered ineffective if the administrative authority (government) decides not to implement their orders.”

The seminar was organised by the SHC bar association in remembrance of the mayhem that broke out on that day five years ago. The Sindh High Court was besieged and people going to receive the then suspended Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry were ambushed on the streets. He was scheduled to come to Karachi to attend the golden jubilee programmes of the SHCBA.

CJ Mushir Alam said that he and other judges and lawyers were witness to the siege of the SHC by “sons of this city”. “We still remember that day and how we entered the SHC premises by scaling the wall of the highest court of the province.”

Sharing for the first time what happened in the chamber of the then chief justice of the SHC, Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, he recalled how the late judge rang up an “authority”, informed him of the law and order breakdown in the city, the beating and threats to lawyers and that a larger number of lawyers at the city courts wanted to be able to make it to the SHC.

The personality on the other line said that if the SHC CJ and lawyers wanted to enter the SHC then only bodies could make it. “This left us all bewildered and aghast,” recalled Justice Mushir Alam.

He felt that this “conspiracy” and similar ones had plagued the country and nation since its inception. The most significant one was the “constitutional deviation” by the then governor general, Ghulam Muhammad. The chief court or the Sindh High Court in the famous Moulvi Tamizuddin Khan case set things right by issuing a “writ of quo warranto and writ of mandamus” but the then federal court overruled it all, squandering the independence of the judiciary in the process.

The intervening period (from 1954 to 2007) was not one which makes us happy, he went on to say. But after 2007, the act of refusal by CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has changed the atmosphere. “As a result of a joint movement by the lawyers, judges, civil society and the media, we [gained] a vibrant, pro-active judiciary and democratic dispensation but people have yet to reap the benefits of democracy.”

He said that despite all the pessimism there was hope that there would be absolute independence of the judiciary, rule of law and true democracy. The judiciary has decided to shun the “law of necessity”, refused to surrender before a tyrant and will not surrender in future too and the country and nation would emerge from the present low, he said.

The SHCBA’s president, Anwar Mansoor Khan, reiterated that the government had been duty bound to protect the lives and properties of the people and protect the courts on May 12. He referred to a recent statement made by the Sindh chief minister in which he was quoted to have said that government had a report about May 12 but would not make it public.

If the government is not controlling law and order, it means that it is involved in the violence, he said, concluding his speech.

On a more self-reflective note, Akhtar Hussain, the vice chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, asked the members of the bar associations to first discipline themselves and subject themselves to self-accountability. He decried the role of political parties, saying none of them had an agenda for structural changes in the country. It was a misperception that the present government is a democratic one. “I call it an elected government and not a democratic government,” he said.

A number of resolutions were adopted at the end of the seminar calling upon the government to try and sentence the men who held the city and its people hostage on May 12, 2007 and killed innocent citizens and lawyers.

“The House is of the considered view that General Pervez Musharraf is involved in the mayhem of May 12, 2007, and therefore, he should also be tried for all such offences committed on that sad day,” the key resolution read.

Javaid Siddiqui of the Law Foundation, a senior lawyer respected widely for his principles, said: “Even the chaos has some law. Despondency is the death of a state”.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>The police were responsible as the Rangers were under their command: ex-DAG</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377569/the-police-were-responsible-as-the-rangers-were-under-their-command-ex-dag</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377569/the-police-were-responsible-as-the-rangers-were-under-their-command-ex-dag#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 05:19:32 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zeeshan.mujahid]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[A full bench had asked why the army was not called in.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The question you have asked since May 12, 2007 is why Karachi’s law-enforcement didn’t kick in on a day when 46 people were shot dead on its streets.


As with all things Karachi, the answers are not always clear. But some sense of clarity is provided by Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui, who was one of the province’s top legal officers at the time, the deputy attorney general.

Islamabad has taken the position that it intended to give full protection to the suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, he told The Express Tribune. As the Rangers were under the control of the police at the time, the responsibility lay with the Sindh police. They should have used the Rangers’ force which was at their disposal, he said.

He went over the defense provided by the federal government. A full bench had asked why the army was not called in.

Siddiqui had told the judges that this could only happen according to a certain procedure and it was not possible to undertake that exercise on that day.

The provincial administration and police were responsible for controlling the May 12 mayhem, he emphasised.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>‘I have never seen such a day in my 20 years of reporting’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377581/%e2%80%98i-have-never-seen-such-a-day-in-my-20-years-of-reporting%e2%80%99</link>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 05:16:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Hafeez Tunio]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Many journalists got stuck in the crossfire as they tried to cover May 12.]]>
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				<![CDATA[“The alarm bells had started ringing on May 11 when shipping containers and water tankers started appearing strategically around the Sindh High Court. The next morning judges had to use the walls to get in.


It was going to be a long, long day for the reporters as well.

9 am

A senior court reporter with an English daily newspaper reached the Sindh High Court with a colleague. Three white vehicles were parked at the main gate. Some youngsters present there told them to turn back as there was no work that day. “You can now go back home,” he quoted them as saying. He went to the other side of the court, which is called Judge’s gate and found the car of the chief justice of the Sindh High Court dented. Some people had attacked his car. “The chief justice had summoned the IG for protection, but the confused police chief showed reluctance, saying that the police alone could not control the situation,” he said.

10 am

TV reporter Mushtaq Sarki left home at 10am in Gulistan-e-Jauhar but when he reached Drigh Road, teenagers stopped him. “They threatened him by saying, ‘don’t go ahead’. I introduced myself and showed my press card, but they pulled out a gun.” He went back to Pehlwan Goth Chowrangi and thought it best to hitch a protective ride with the workers of another party. “But some men hiding in storm drain starting firing at them, killing Nawaz Kingrani of the Awami Tahreek,” he said. “As Nawaz was shot we ran to the police. The cops showed us the sticks in their hands and said they could not help us. They said, call 15. That man died.”

11am

According to Arbab Chandio who was working for Sindhi TV channel KTN, they came under fire near Malir where the office of the Sachal Rangers is located. Some political workers with flags were heading towards the airport when firing erupted from a rooftop. A Steel Mills official affiliated with the PML-N was killed. “My cameraman and I escaped and reached the gate of the Sachal Rangers but despite repeated requests, they did not open it. Some people were lying dead in the vehicle, which was burning because the fuel tank had leaked and a man in the car was crying for help.” After one hour, two Rangers jawans let them in.

1pm

The battle between political workers ensued at Baloch Colony Bridge on Shahrae Faisal near the office of Sindh TV. The channel broadcast how the suspects were loading guns and how others were supplying them ammunition to fire at processions going to the airport. “I was sitting in the office directing our reports in the field. Suddenly firing started when some [political] leaders were going to the airport,” said Akbar Jafferi, a senior reporter at the channel.  “I have never ever seen such a brutal incident in my twenty years of field reporting,” he said. “The rescue workers were too frightened to come. The area was filled with the smell of gunfire.”

2pm

Urdu news channel Aaj TV came under attack when it started a live telecast of the unfolding events. Youngsters with party flags were firing at the Aaj office for about two hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>May 12, the day that allowed some fighters to prove their mettle</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377579/may-12-the-day-that-allowed-some-fighters-to-prove-their-mettle</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377579/may-12-the-day-that-allowed-some-fighters-to-prove-their-mettle#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 05:11:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[faraz.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Some men ran, but others emerged about 46 bodies later, with distinction.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[On May 12, 2007 some men died - and others were reborn.


It made the fortunes of scummy street fighters who grovelled to get noticed but never made the cut in the militant wing of the party they panted after. Some men ran, but others emerged about 46 bodies later, with distinction.

Twenty-seven-year-old B is among those who stayed to fight till the end.

“May 12 is not in my past, it is my today,” he told The Express Tribune from his hideout in district West. “Whatever I am today is because of May 12. I am proud that it made my reputation in my party but sad that in that fight I lost a lot of friends.”

While B had joined the party about six years ago, May 12 gave him a chance to prove himself. He is now considered among the bravest and strongest activists. The party, which had often ignored him, has now rewarded him by making him the chief of one of several militant units, he says.

“Every dog has his day,” he muses. “My own people who used to degrade me are now working under me today.” He won the position he had long coveted.

But, at some level he has paid a price. A price he is willing to pay. “I’ve been distanced from my loved ones,” he says. “I can’t roam around openly and I can’t live at home. With success I have also won more enemies.”

According to him, he killed four workers from a rival political party at two different fronts on May 12. He was located at Baloch Colony and Drigh Road. “Four are confirmed,” he says. “Why should I feel guilty? The men who I killed weren’t angels. If I didn’t kill them, they would have killed me.”

Five years after the day, he maintains that he never went into the fray to rise in the ranks and was “purely fighting for the party”. “Bara saman (SMG) end time per dhoka de gaya tha. Shukar hai us waqt pistol tha, aur backup per larke bhi. Bas lamho ki baat thi, thori bhi late hota to shayad me late ho jata.” (The big ones (sub-machine guns) gave up on us right at the end. Thank God, I had the pistol on me and there were boys in backup. It was a matter of moments. If I had hesitated and missed, perhaps they wouldn’t have.)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Replug: Karachi’s most famous dead body lives to tell the tale</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377572/karachi%e2%80%99s-most-famous-dead-body-lives-to-tell-the-tale</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/377572/karachi%e2%80%99s-most-famous-dead-body-lives-to-tell-the-tale#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 12 05:07:55 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[sohail.khattak]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[‘This one’s still alive, they said before one of them shot me a sixth time’.]]>
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				<![CDATA[“You might have seen that picture of May 12 with the bodies of four men lying on a road near a silver car. I am the one in the white shalwar kameez.”


Iqbal H is referring to only the most famous image from that day five years ago. He was shot six times.

“The terrorists left me for dead but I have survived,” said Iqbal. (His name and residence have been withheld as he considers his life still at risk).

He and one of his friends, Umer S, had gone along with hundreds of people from their neighbourhood to welcome the suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at the airport. However, when they reached Kala Board at Malir, shooters lying in wait unleashed a hail of bullets on the procession. “We got trapped near the railway track.”

“Two wounded men were already lying beside our car and I put them in it, but as we moved forward the shooters opened rapid fire at us and we had to stop. They then came and shot me five times inside the car and shot dead the three outside the car.”

A noted reporter with one of Pakistan’s largest private news channels was filming the violence at the spot. He pointed to Iqbal and told one of the shooters that he was still alive. The man with the gun dragged Iqbal out of the car and fired a sixth bullet into his right arm. “I didn’t flinch even though the bullet was extremely painful,” Iqbal said. “My eyes were open while I was in the car but I just could not close them, which is why when the gunmen kicked me out of the car I tried to cover my face with my shirt to hide my eyes.” Iqbal figured that they would give him away as being alive.

The men with guns left when a vehicle carrying journalists came to take pictures before passing on. “Then a child came to me and shook my head,” recalled Iqbal. “I told the child that I was alive and he needed to ask someone to take me to hospital.” He was taken to a nearby shop by men. There were already three other injured men there. Iqbal lay there for half an hour before he was able to get treatment.

“When they were shooting me, I heard the sound of the Azaan from a mosque,” said Iqbal. “I thought it would be the last Azaan of my life.” He was shot in the legs, right hand and chest. His friend Umer never made it.

After ten days in hospital, Iqbal finally went home. His health has since recovered but he is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. “After May 12, I forget things, sometimes I even forget the names of my two children. That hurts the most.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2012.

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