Sleepless in Lyari: Kutchi families and other residents opt to move across the road

Amid fears for their lives and food shortages, residents pack up and leave.

KARACHI: For five-year-old Qasim Ali and four-year-old Soman, it is very difficult to sleep. They can’t even step out of the house to play because of firing and RPG blasts in Ali Mohammad Mohalla.

Their father, Iqbal Kutchi said that his children didn’t even ask for candy and chocolate on Sunday. “They stayed awake the entire night,” he said. “The children kept their eyes shut in fear and shivered whenever they heard any noise outside.”

Iqbal and his family reside in Ali Mohammad Mohalla, a neighbourhood which was one of the first to be targeted in the police operation in Lyari.

There are several other children like Qasim and Soman who live in Kutchi areas adjacent to Baloch Mohallas, including Rahimanabad, Haji Hussain Bachal Road, Mandra Jamaat Khana Road, Al-Falah Road and Moosa Lane, and are forbidden to go outside and play.

After 13 people, including two policemen, were gunned down in Lyari on Saturday, many Kutchi families decided it was time to move out. Some started moving on Saturday, and others followed them out on Sunday. These families are moving from one side of Lyari to the other – further out. Watching their Kutchi neighbours walking out in broad daylight with bags filled with their belongings, prompted Baloch, Pathan, Mianwali and Sindhi families in the area to move.

Family ties

As chaos disrupts the lives of Lyari’s residents every day – pharmacies, milk shops, grocery stores and hotels remain closed – elderly people, pregnant women and children are left to bear the brunt.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Zubair, a resident of Lyari, said that there were about 30 families living in an apartment block near Gabol Park but it was dangerous to stay indoors all the time. “We are living in the compound but cannot stay at home. The gangsters fire directly at our windows and walls,” he said. “Our children are crying for milk and are getting tired of hiding. If this battle continues, the food shortage will become another problem.” He added that almost all of his neighbours were running out of rations.

On the other side of the war zone which includes areas such as, New Kalri and Bihar Colony, children were running around giggling. According to Huzaifa who was standing near Hingorabad Road Corner, he was counting gunshots and wanted to collect the bullet shells. “I do not allow my children to go outside the house,” said Rahiman. “But it is very difficult to keep them in all day. My heart beat increases with every fire and blast. I feel like I’ll die.”

On Saturday, RPGs were fired at different locations in New Kalri and Old Kalri, gunshots echoed in Ali Mohammad Mohalla, Rahimanabad, Ahmed Shah Bukhari Road, Haji Hussain Bachal Road and Al-Falah Road. Shopkeepers were forced to pull their shutters down as the firing did not stop and kept going on till Sunday morning.

Around a dozen Baloch men were caught trespassing in Kutchi dominated area but were asked to leave after an interrogation.

Hafiz Naeem, 14, claimed that he was kidnapped from Al-Falah Road when he left home in search for milk and biscuits on Sunday morning. “As I was looking for a shop, four boys caught me by the neck and took me to a house,” he said. “They asked me to open my mouth and put a gun inside. They started asking me questions about my family and our telephone number.” Hafiz’s mother said that neighbours and relatives informed the family about the abduction. She added that the kidnappers asked her to go pick her son from Street 7.

“We were in such shock and had no idea what to do,” said Hafiz’s mother Kalsoom Hussain. “When they asked me to collect my son, I ran to the place. I was relieved to see my son walking towards me.”

Residents claim that ever since their former naib nazim was gunned down the situation in Lyari started to deteriorate again and expected it to get worse.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2012.