Day 4 of violence: Some families flee, while others remain locked in their homes
People from one party replenish food rations in Qasba Colony on Thursday night.
KARACHI:
Hundreds of people in Qasba Colony, Aligarh Colony and certain parts of Orangi and Baldia towns have been besieged in their own houses, amidst indiscriminate firing round the clock for the past four days.
The situation has left them with only two choices - either they endlessly wait for help or simply flee the battlefield.
Although no exact estimates are available, some residents of Orangi Town claimed that around 60 families have been forced to relocate. As the violence continues, the load-shedding in some of these areas has been aggravated. A high voltage electricity cable has fallen on the street in Qasba Colony but the Karachi Electric Supply Company teams can't venture in to fix it.
"It has been four days since my family and I have been confined. We cannot even peep from the windows for fear of being hit by a bullet," said one woman. "We cannot risk stepping out but if we don't leave we will surely die of starvation."
People whose homes lie near certain ethno-linguistically demarcated neighbourhoods have promptly shifted to their relatives. The residents of these troubled areas are not even going to the mosque; they either pray at home or go to smaller mosques in the vicinity.
A police officer revealed that he has not been able to go on duty for the last three days due to the heavy firing. The fridge is empty and there is no chance he will make it to the shops. The food shortage was so acute on Thursday night that people in Qasba Colony had to contact their relatives in other areas for emergency provisions.
Consequently, members of one political party accompanied by the police entered some of these areas and provide the residents with food, bakery products and powdered milk. Sources said that this party is gathering data on people who have been forced to leave.
The party is also apparently making arrangements for rations and other essential commodities. Special watchmen teams have also been formed to guard areas adjacent to the affected localities.
Yonus Buneri, the district east president of the Awami National Party (ANP), told The Express Tribune that according to their estimates, 161 families of Zia Colony have migrated to Mehran Town, Bilal Colony and Pakhtoonabad in Manghopir.
Out of these, 33 families have activists with the ANP, he maintained. This claim could not be independently verified. He alleged that around 250 armed men had entered the Zia Colony and warned the residents to leave the area within 24 hours.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2011.
Hundreds of people in Qasba Colony, Aligarh Colony and certain parts of Orangi and Baldia towns have been besieged in their own houses, amidst indiscriminate firing round the clock for the past four days.
The situation has left them with only two choices - either they endlessly wait for help or simply flee the battlefield.
Although no exact estimates are available, some residents of Orangi Town claimed that around 60 families have been forced to relocate. As the violence continues, the load-shedding in some of these areas has been aggravated. A high voltage electricity cable has fallen on the street in Qasba Colony but the Karachi Electric Supply Company teams can't venture in to fix it.
"It has been four days since my family and I have been confined. We cannot even peep from the windows for fear of being hit by a bullet," said one woman. "We cannot risk stepping out but if we don't leave we will surely die of starvation."
People whose homes lie near certain ethno-linguistically demarcated neighbourhoods have promptly shifted to their relatives. The residents of these troubled areas are not even going to the mosque; they either pray at home or go to smaller mosques in the vicinity.
A police officer revealed that he has not been able to go on duty for the last three days due to the heavy firing. The fridge is empty and there is no chance he will make it to the shops. The food shortage was so acute on Thursday night that people in Qasba Colony had to contact their relatives in other areas for emergency provisions.
Consequently, members of one political party accompanied by the police entered some of these areas and provide the residents with food, bakery products and powdered milk. Sources said that this party is gathering data on people who have been forced to leave.
The party is also apparently making arrangements for rations and other essential commodities. Special watchmen teams have also been formed to guard areas adjacent to the affected localities.
Yonus Buneri, the district east president of the Awami National Party (ANP), told The Express Tribune that according to their estimates, 161 families of Zia Colony have migrated to Mehran Town, Bilal Colony and Pakhtoonabad in Manghopir.
Out of these, 33 families have activists with the ANP, he maintained. This claim could not be independently verified. He alleged that around 250 armed men had entered the Zia Colony and warned the residents to leave the area within 24 hours.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2011.