Law and order: ‘Sectarian’ clashes erupt in Godhra Colony

Gunshots echoed in the neighbourhood until last reports; ASWJ, Sunni Tehreek blame each other .

KARACHI:

A violent clash between two religious groups — Sunni Tehreek from the Barelvi sect and Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) from the Deobandi sect — erupted in New Karachi’s Godhra Colony on Thursday night. Until last reports, three people, including a 26-year-old woman, were killed.

The neighbourhood echoed with gunshots as the two sides exchanged fire. TPO Zafar Malik had to move in with a heavy contingent of policemen. “I’m in the armoured personnel carrier myself at the moment and the two sides are continuing to fire upon each other,” he said.

Another officer, SP Latif Siddiqui, said there were unconfirmed reports that a woman had also been killed in the firing. Although it was too early to say what exactly triggered the violence, it seemed that it was sparked by a personal dispute between two individuals belonging to the two opposing religious schools of thought, he added.

ASWJ Karachi president Maulana Taj Mohammad Hanafi said that one of their workers Faisal was shot dead by armed ‘gangs’ of the Sunni Tehreek and there were reports that several others had suffered injuries. Hanafi said their workers were deliberately attacked by the Sunni Tehreek workers.

A similar clash had occurred in the same area around five months ago when the two rival sectarian organisations fought and both sides lost activists.

Meanwhile, Sunni Tehreek spokesperson Fahimuddin Sheikh blamed the ASWJ for attacking the party’s Godhra sector office. “The Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (former name of ASWJ) is a terrorist organisation responsible for this violence,” he said. When The Express Tribune contacted Sheikh, he said that at this moment, there are around 20 people trapped inside the sector office. They are facing a hail of bullets, he said.

Accepting that there was tension between the two groups in the area for some months, Sheikh denied there was any dispute over any mosques in the area. “We don’t want to disturb the peace of the city and neither are we interested in sparking sectarian tensions,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2011.