A petition seeking action against the police for failing to protect participants of a rally in Lyari was filed in the Sindh High Court on Monday.
The chairman of newly formed Pakistan Qaumi Movement, Iqbal Kazmi, appealed to the court to direct the Sindh government to reprimand the police over the death of 17 people and injuries to more than 35 others on May 22.
Putting the death toll of the rally attack at 17, he said that the heirs of the victims should be compensated by the government.
The petitioner also claimed that during the Lyari operation, about a dozen police officers were suspended when they refused to take part in the partial operation.
Relying on photographs and video stills, Kazmi stated that the law prohibits any police officer from participating in action without uniform but during the operation, the law enforcers were accompanied by men in civilian clothes carrying sophisticated arms.
Referring to intelligence reports about the weapons in Karachi, the petitioner claimed that some 17 to 70 people are killed in the city everyday due to the availability of illegal arms.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2012.
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