Karachi haemorrhaging, as top brass starts to apply pressure


Express August 06, 2010

KARACHI: After four days of violence, the province and country’s top brass held a seven-minute press conference on Friday after a series of meetings. As the ministers and police were busy discussing ways to clamp down on the haemorrhaging city, at least six more people were gunned down.

On Wednesday and Thursday when the death toll kept steadily ticking up, no senior member of the Sindh government had spoken up. Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza, who had previously condemned the violence, was also nowhere to be seen. As if in response to this, he said on Friday words to the effect that he didn’t have a pretty face that he needed to appear on the media again and again. His job, he stressed, was “to identify and help arrest the criminals and maintain law and order in the province”.

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who swooped in once again to hold a series of meetings with the police and Rangers, hinted at the establishment of a task force to maintain peace in the city. This time round, he did not talk about a third force. He was still full of bluster for the criminals, who would have to “leave the city or live here peacefully”. He then went on to praise the city’s police, who according to him had done their job despite limited resources.

Meanwhile, shops stayed closed and buses stayed parked for Orangi and Baldia towns. A bus was burnt in Ittehad town and passengers were beaten in Ittehad Colony. Firing was reported from Chandi Chowk, where two houses and a coal factory were burnt. In the juridisdiction of the Shahrae Noor Jahan police, a vehicle was set ablaze. A house was also burnt in Federal B area’s block 17.

CCPO Waseem Ahmad said that 20 suspects were arrested in the MPA Raza Haider case. Prior to this, no law-enforcement agency was ready to own up to any arrest over the last four days of violence. More than 86 people have lost their lives and around 250 were injured. The people involved in Haider’s killing are also suspected of being involved in the killing of two Shia brothers in the first week of June, according to the initial investigation report. The report, which was submitted to the authorities by the Special Investigation Unit and police’s West zone investigation department, said that similar 9mm pistol rounds were found at the spot where the MPA was murdered and where the two brothers, Asif Raza Zaidi and Shehzad Raza Zaidi, were gunned down in New Town and Rizvia Society.

Fifteen men, among those arrested by the police and Rangers in Orangi Town, are members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba, sources said on Friday. They are being questioned by a joint interrogation team.

Regular law and order briefings

The police will be holding regular press briefings to pass on correct information about the law and order situation, police performance, arrests and the recovery of arms and ammunition.

This was decided at a meeting chaired by Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik at the Central Police Office Friday. So far 195 men have been arrested for suspicion of being involved in target killings and arson.

2 ANP activists buried

Two activists of the Awami National Party, who were targeted in the recent violence in the city, were buried in the Pathan Colony graveyard, near Banaras Chowk. The funeral prayers for Niaz Ali and Fazal Khaliq were held after Zuhr prayers at Pathan Colony and were attended by office-bearers of the party.
additional input from ppi

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7th, 2010.

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