Bite the bullet: Man injured as MQM-H distributes flyers
Party men were giving shopkeepers pamphlets in Clifton.
KARACHI:
In a tragic, yet ironic twist, a man was injured when firing erupted during a Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) campaign for deweaponisation at Three Swords in Clifton on Thursday.
The injured Naseer Ahmed is a worker for the MQM-H, according to the party. Doctors have said he is out of danger.
The MQM-H men were distributing flyers to shopkeepers and shoppers, urging people to take up “jihad for peace in Karachi by cleaning the city of its guns” when the incident took place.
Frere SHO Ishaq Lashari said no case has been registered yet but it is likely to happen once the injured man is discharged from Jinnah hospital. “The firing took place after the MQM-H members came and started distributing pamphlets in the area,” he said. “Muttahida Qaumi Movement workers came and a scuffle ensued and then firing erupted.”
According to a spokesman, their workers were being targeted in order to intimidate them from doing political work. But the MQM-H didn’t give up there. They abandoned Three Swords and raced off to Khadda market in DHA. Some of the group leaders stopped to regroup there as they tried to call police to provide them with security. “Our opponents know what is happening in the coming days and this all being done to avoid that,” said MQM-H Central Information Secretary Aleem Ahmed Khan. “The police are even aiding them in disturbing our activities.”
The leaflets are part of a “single-point agenda” that Afaq Ahmed, the chief of the MQM-H, and his political allies have been pushing since his release from prison.
The flyer says that “those holding the city hostage at gunpoint are cowards,” and “that de-weaponisation brings justice, and justice will progress.”
Not everyone is convinced of the MQM-H’s motives or their credentials to push such an agenda. “This, this has to be banned before any change can be brought and this is the basis of the problem,” mused Rana Muhammad Akhtar, a security guard at a store in Khadda market, while pointing to the bottom of the flyer where the MQM-H’s name is written. “The country will be peaceful when parties stop playing politics with ethnicity.”
Another shopkeeper Muhammad Naeem was wary. “This is actually an alarm bell signalling dangerous times in Karachi,” he said. “I feel that the situation in the city is going to become more dangerous as a result of this.”
A few of the waiters who woo customers in the market were of a different opinion. “This is a good step for the city and this will help lead to peace,” said one of them who identified himself as Anwar.
His co-worker Umair echoed the sentiment. “People are scared to leave their houses because of all the gunfire. This is affecting employment in the city so I think a drive to de-weaponise Karachi is good for the city.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2012.
In a tragic, yet ironic twist, a man was injured when firing erupted during a Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) campaign for deweaponisation at Three Swords in Clifton on Thursday.
The injured Naseer Ahmed is a worker for the MQM-H, according to the party. Doctors have said he is out of danger.
The MQM-H men were distributing flyers to shopkeepers and shoppers, urging people to take up “jihad for peace in Karachi by cleaning the city of its guns” when the incident took place.
Frere SHO Ishaq Lashari said no case has been registered yet but it is likely to happen once the injured man is discharged from Jinnah hospital. “The firing took place after the MQM-H members came and started distributing pamphlets in the area,” he said. “Muttahida Qaumi Movement workers came and a scuffle ensued and then firing erupted.”
According to a spokesman, their workers were being targeted in order to intimidate them from doing political work. But the MQM-H didn’t give up there. They abandoned Three Swords and raced off to Khadda market in DHA. Some of the group leaders stopped to regroup there as they tried to call police to provide them with security. “Our opponents know what is happening in the coming days and this all being done to avoid that,” said MQM-H Central Information Secretary Aleem Ahmed Khan. “The police are even aiding them in disturbing our activities.”
The leaflets are part of a “single-point agenda” that Afaq Ahmed, the chief of the MQM-H, and his political allies have been pushing since his release from prison.
The flyer says that “those holding the city hostage at gunpoint are cowards,” and “that de-weaponisation brings justice, and justice will progress.”
Not everyone is convinced of the MQM-H’s motives or their credentials to push such an agenda. “This, this has to be banned before any change can be brought and this is the basis of the problem,” mused Rana Muhammad Akhtar, a security guard at a store in Khadda market, while pointing to the bottom of the flyer where the MQM-H’s name is written. “The country will be peaceful when parties stop playing politics with ethnicity.”
Another shopkeeper Muhammad Naeem was wary. “This is actually an alarm bell signalling dangerous times in Karachi,” he said. “I feel that the situation in the city is going to become more dangerous as a result of this.”
A few of the waiters who woo customers in the market were of a different opinion. “This is a good step for the city and this will help lead to peace,” said one of them who identified himself as Anwar.
His co-worker Umair echoed the sentiment. “People are scared to leave their houses because of all the gunfire. This is affecting employment in the city so I think a drive to de-weaponise Karachi is good for the city.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2012.