Bloody day: Three political workers among 10 shot dead

A large number of women protested on Sharae Faisal.

KARACHI: Three political activists and a member of the Shia community were among 10 people killed as another violent year concluded.

The situation turned ugly in Saddar’s Bazarta Line where the death of a political activist, Abdul Sattar, allegedly by the firing of a policeman sparked violence that led to the burning down of a building housing the office of a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader. Four men tried to snatch the official sub-machine gun from Khurram when he was walking home in Saddar police lines. “I only fired in self defence. If I hadn’t, they would have snatched my official gun and even killed me,” Khurram told The Express Tribune. “I don’t know somebody died or not. I also don’t know if the victim was one of the attackers or just a passerby.”

Khurram is posted with the Security Zone police in Hassan Square. On his complaint, the Saddar police have registered a case against four suspects.

Sattar was associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said SHO Ghulam Nabi Wago, who was suspended following the riots. Suspects fired gunshots and set fire to two shops, four vehicles and also the office of PPP leader Imtiaz Khattak. The fire partially damaged the two-storey building.

The riots spread to Sharae Faisal as a large number of women took to the streets. The protesters set fire to tyres and a tree, suspending traffic.

“A short while before Sattar died, activists of MQM and PPP had a fight,” SHO Wago said. “While Sattar apparently died from Khurram’s firing, the activists thought he was gunned down by PPP activists.” Half a dozen suspects were detained by the police.

A PPP worker, Nawazish Ali, was found dead shortly after Sattar’s death, DSP Malik Ehsan said. The victim was a close aide of Imtiaz Khattak and had been shot multiple times.

Separately, an activist of MQM’s unit 143, Salahuddin Samad, 58, was shot dead in Buffer Zone. Bilal Baloch was found dead in Dhobi Ghat, Pak Colony police said.

Meanwhile, a man belonging to the Shia sect, Jawad Hussain, 45, was gunned down in Orangi Town. Two men also shot and injured a prayer leader, Maulana Shaukat, in New Karachi. A milk shop owner, Mushtaq Rajput, 46, was shot dead and his nephew, Qasim, 25, was injured in Gizri. In Ayub Goth, a couple and two women were shot dead inside their house.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2013.