MQM leader killed: As city braced for post-Laden chaos, it erupted for someone else

KARACHI: Initially the violence in Karachi was assumed to be in reaction to the news of the killing of Osama bin Laden — but it soon became clear that it was closer to home. Angry men set at least 25 buses and trucks on fire after a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) member was gunned down near Bagh-e-Korangi within the jurisdiction of Sharafi Goth police station.

Forty-year-old Farooq Baig and his friend Habib were on their way from Landhi’s Babar market to MQM headquarters Nine-Zero when men attacked their car (GL-6367). The victims were immediately taken to a private hospital on Stadium road where Baig died. His body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities where MQM leaders, workers and relatives turned up.

Witnesses said that the victims had retaliated when the assailants fired at them.

The two armed men were on one motorcycle and two more men on a motorcycle were close behind as back-up. The police are waiting for Habib to recover enough to make a statement, said SP Nasir Aftab. “They told us they would record a statement later,” he said, adding that the victims had used 9mm pistols and the culprits .30 bore pistols. Baig was shot once with the bullet hitting him through the back and into his heart.

“It was the worst situation and a tough time for us today as the riots rapidly began following the incident,” SP Aftab explained. “We are not making raids for the arrests because it would make the situation worse. But we will make arrests.”

The MQM’s Saif Abbas condemned Baig’s killing and said that he had been a senior and active worker of the party. He had been working these days with the party’s Karachi organising committee and had held the post of sector in-charge for Korangi and Landhi twice. He leaves behind three children. Violence spread like wildfire and by the end of the day, four more people were dead and more than a dozen were injured. Two people were killed in Awami Colony limits. They were 48-year-old Mohammad Hazaar and his cousin Razzak, 35, the driver and cleaner of a truck. Armed men sprayed their truck with bullets on Korangi road. The victims were residents of Sharafi Goth.

There was aerial firing reported across the city, from II Chundrigar Road to Gulshan-e-Iqbal. By now, shops don’t wait for the police and businesses and markets were quickly emptied. Traffic jams were quick to follow as people rushed to get home. As buses were being burnt, public transport disappeared. Petrol pumps shut down.

A passenger bus at Korangi No 6, a bus at Landhi sector 36-B, a cab at Malir, a dumper truck at Pak Colony, three vehicles near Noor Masjid Korangi, a goods carrier at Al-Karam Square, a water tanker near Super market Liaquatabad, two vehicles at Punjab Chowrangi, a passenger coach at New Karachi and eight other vehicles at Yousuf Plaza, Nazimabad, Sindhi Hotel, Gulshan-e-Shamim, Gizri and Rizvia, were torched.

By the evening three more vehicles were set on fire – two more trucks in Liaquatabad and one passenger bus near Kiran Hospital, Safora Goth.

Liaquatabad SP Naveed Khawaja told The Express Tribune that the police have arrested around 31 suspects involved in arson. “All of them were arrested red-handed,” he said. Ten men were arrested from Super Market, 11 from Sharifabad and ten from Liaquatabad police.

Some men tried to set a private bank on fire in Pak Colony. According to fire brigade officials, the bank was partially damaged as law enforcers reached the site on time. There were reports that some men were taken into custody while setting vehicles on fire in Liaquatabad.

The police and rangers rushed to the disturbed areas but there was not much they could do. Scores of MQM workers gathered for Baig’s funeral at Korangi No 6, Imran Shaheed Ground after Isha prayers. He was buried close by. MQM chief Altaf Hussain and the party’s Rabita Committee expressed grief over the killing in separate statements. No case was registered till the filing of this report late Monday night.

This was a second day of violence as on Sunday the entire city was closed and 11 vehicles were torched as the MQM observed a day of mourning over the killing of former MPA Liaquat Qureshi who was gunned down in Mobina Town.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2011.