Violent times: PPP minority wing general secretary attacked

Odhamal is in charge of minorities in five districts, 42 city areas and 178 union council wards.

KARACHI:

Mukhi Odhamal, the general secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Minorities Wing, was attacked by 15 armed men at his house in Ibrahim Hyderi on Thursday. Three of his family members were injured.

According to him, the sound of gun shots inside the house woke him up at around 4:30 am. “They entered my house and took my driver hostage,” he said. “My brothers confronted the attackers who kept on asking for me and claimed that they had to finish me off.”

Odhamal added that the men opened fire in front of his room and shot his 13-year-old son Jagdesh Prakash in the back. They also shot his brother Jai Prakash in the stomach and leg. “A bullet nearly missed my cousin’s head,” he said. The injured were taken to Aga Khan University Hospital where the doctors declared that his brother was in a critical condition.

Describing the attackers, Odhamal claimed that their faces were covered. “They were a mix of Sindhi-, Urdu- and Bengali-speaking men and were carrying TT pistols,” he said.

While talking to The Express Tribune PPP Karachi division information secretary Latif Mughal said that the party thought the attack on Odhamal was motivated more by political than religious factors.

Minority members of the PPP believe that the attack may have more to do with their work to expand. Karam Chand Kohistani, from Hindu Panchaiyat Gulshan-e-Hadeed, said Odhamal may have been targeted because the minority wing of the PPP was getting a lot of support and recognition.

Odhamal has long been associated with the party but became the minorities general secretary on July 13. This was the first time that the PPP minorities wing was properly accommodated in the People’s Secretariat. Odhomal is in charge of minorities in five districts, 42 city areas and 178 union council wards.

There was debate, however, whether the attack was indeed political. Raja Assermal Manglani, the president of the Pakistan Hindu Council, dismissed it as an attack on minorities and said it seemed like an armed dacoity. However, William B John from the Umeed -e-Sahar Foundation, said it was suspicious that attackers asked for him specifically.

No FIR was registered till the filing of this report and the family said they would go ahead depending on the party’s consent.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th,  2011.