Back to square one

KARACHI: A fresh wave of violence erupted in Karachi on Wednesday, just as the city was trying to recover from two days of rioting, arson and drive-by shootings in the aftermath of Muttahida Qaumi Movement MPA Raza Haider’s assassination.

The bodies of two people who were killed in Mominabad were brought to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. In another case, the Mominabad police identified two victims as Fayyaz and Mehmood who were killed in Hariana, Sector 10.

Four more men were killed execution style at Korangi Crossing Street No 22. According to the police, motorcycle riders first abducted Shimla Khan and then forced him to take them to his residence where three of his friends were asleep. They killed all four of them. The three victims were identified as Abdul Hakeem, Ataullah and Faiz Muhammad. According to the police, the men were all daily-wage workers. Their bodies were taken to JPMC.

Owais Raza was killed when unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire on mobile phone shops in Gora’abad, PIB police said. He was a resident of Liaquatabad and hailed from Rahimyar Khan.

An unidentified body was brought from Ali Imambargah, Pirabad to Civil hospital.

Abdul Samad Baloch was abducted and then killed near Kashti mosque, Garden.

A bakery and two houses were set ablaze in Muhammadpur, early Wednesday morning. Around 35 shops were burnt in Abdullah Haroon Goth. A shop was set ablaze in Saddar. Two people were injured in firing in Metroville, SITE Town.

Rioters opened fire at around 35 homes in Mujeeb Goth, Orangi Town in which 14 people, including children and women, were injured. Three activists of the Awami National Party were killed in Korangi Wednesday night. Five more people were killed in Orangi and one within the limits of Sharae Faisal police station.

Edhi staffers said one of their ambulances was snatched in Orangi Town.

In the evening, the violence spread from Orangi and Korangi to other areas as well. Aerial firing resonated in different neighbourhoods. Anyone who had ventured out, rushed home.

Some of the shops in the city opened Wednesday morning but were soon shut as were petrol pumps.

Urdu-speaking people  being attacked: MQM

Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) activists are being attacked all over the city and the Rangers and police have practically failed to control the unrest, claimed MQM’s Wasay Jalil on Wednesday.

Addressing the MQM Rabita Committee’s press conference, he repeated their stance that the “land, drugs and arms mafia” are active in the violence-hit areas. “Urdu-speaking people are being targeted in Orangi,” he said, adding that miscreants are breaking into the houses of MQM activists and setting them on fire. “Several shops owned by the MQM workers have been gutted.”

He claimed that the “terrorists involved in the violence and rioting” belong to Qasba Colony, Banaras, Katti Pahari and Faqir Colony and they have killed and injured dozens of MQM workers and supporters. These terrorists have set up sand-bag barriers and are firing in Muslimabad and Pirabad, he said.

City held hostage: JI

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the target killings in Karachi. “The city has been held hostage by armed miscreants,” said JI Karachi ameer Mohammed Hussain Mehanti, who alleged that the law-enforcement agencies had played the role of “silent speculators” and did not work to minimise the loss of lives and property in Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2010.