ANP’s new unit office set on fire

Office of the Awami National Party at Korangi Crossing in Bhittai Colony was attacked and set on fire on Sunday.

KARACHI: The new unit office of the Awami National Party (ANP) at Korangi Crossing in Bhittai Colony was attacked and set on fire on Sunday. This caused scare and panic in the locality.

The office, a small room located within the jurisdiction of Ibrahim Hyderi police station, was established last month. The attack damaged the building and the door was completely destroyed.

ANP activists claimed that they were targeted. However, no party claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Around five of our activists were sitting in the office when some people opened fire at the office and abducted four of our activists,” ANP spokesperson Qadir Khan told The Express Tribune.

The four abducted activists were identified as Zubair, Bakhti, Faraz and Peer Ali. The four men were allegedly beaten up and later released.

Khan condemned the act by saying that the ANP believed in political freedom and this attack shows that the miscreants did not believe in freedom of expression.

One of the abducted men, Zubair, 27, told The Express Tribune that the assailants opened fire on them and took them to a place where they tortured them.

Officials at the Ibrahim Hyderi police station declared the attack as a minor incident and said that the fight occurred between two parties. They believed that the main reason behind the attack was the opening of a new ANP office.

“It will be premature to say who was involved,” an official said. When contacted, DSP Abdul Jabbar Qaimkhani refused to comment as to why an FIR of the incident was not being lodged.

The attack created panic in the area as shops were closed down and the police and Rangers were called in to control the situation.

Last month, the coalition parties in the Sindh government had agreed to impose a ban on wall chalking and waving party flags in public, which is the main reason for clashes between parties. The ban has yet to be imposed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2010.