The petition for the FIR was submitted by ASI Abdul Ghani and registered at the Hatetri Police Station. The supervising police officer of Hatetri Police Station, Aijaz Bhatti, told Express that the driver Qasim and cleaner Nadeem, were arrested from Civil hospital, where they were being treated.
Though sabotage was ruled out following the blast, the Inspector General Police (IG) Sindh, Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak, ordered police to remain on high alert. The IG asked for a strict check to be kept at the entrance and exit points of Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. Security was to be provided to all mosques, imambargahs and worship places of minorities. He also directed the police to keep a vigilant eye on government buildings, foreign consulates and residences and offices of foreigners. No negligence would be tolerated in this regard, he warned. The IG asked for directives to be issued to all zonal DIGs to ask officers to patrol their areas.
There was severe criticism against the government in the aftermath of the blast.
The power supply of the city was also severely affected by the explosion. The electricity of half of the city was cut off by the blast. Hesco claimed that the electricity supply from eight feeders in Hyderabad was shut off for 20 hours.
However, residents complained that electricity supply was not resumed even after the scheduled 20 hours.
The government has provided no assistance nor announced a compensation package for the families of the victims of the blast. The majority of the victims who died in the blast were the sole bread earners for their families.
Additional input from PPI
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2010.
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