JI activist succumbs to injuries after rally attack
A Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) activist, critically injured in a grenade attack at a Youm-e-Istehsal rally in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Wednesday, succumbed to his wounds at a hospital on Thursday.
Rafiq Tanoli, the 35-year-old JI nazim for Quaidabad, had reportedly sustained injuries to his abdomen in the attack, which left at least 39 rally participants injured after unidentified motorcyclists hurled a grenade at the JI-organised rally near Baitul Mukarram mosque.
Tanoli’s funeral prayers were offered outside Idara Noor-e-Haq, the party headquarters in Karachi, led by JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman. His body was later taken to his hometown of Mansehra for burial.
Several of those present at the funeral prayers shouted slogans demanding the immediate arrest of those behind the attack.
According to the police, around a dozen more injured rally participants were receiving treatment at different hospitals.
Meanwhile, no case has yet been registered for the attack and no arrests made even a day later, despite a separatist group, the Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army, claiming responsibility for it. While such cases are normally registered with the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police, neither the CTD nor the Aziz Bhatti police have filed a case.
According to East SSP Sajid Amir Sadozai, no one from JI or the victim’s family had approached the police to register the case. He added that if no other complainant approached the police, the law enforcers themselves would register a case on behalf of the state.
Talking to the media after the funeral prayers, JI’s Rehman blamed India for the attack, while implying that it had received local support as well.
“Armed motorcyclists threw a hand grenade in broad daylight. It is the responsibility of the government and the law enforcement agencies to arrest the culprits, the masterminds and their supporters,” he insisted.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 7th, 2020.