Ground Reality: ‘It looked like a war out there’

Residents of Manghopir grow used to search operations in their area.

KARACHI:

The residents of Manghopir and its surrounding areas have grown used to search operations now. Every now and then, law enforcers descend on the neighbourhood, going door to door to fish out suspected militants. The intensity of the crackdown on Saturday took everyone by surprise.

“There have been operations previously but today it looked like war,” said Khan Mohammad. “With commandos disembarking from helicopters, it really looked like a scene out of a Hollywood flick.”

Before Fajr, Abdul Ali, 50, heard someone calling out on loudspeakers from at least five different places. He could not understand what were they were saying but when he went to the mosque, he learnt that Rangers had cordoned off the area and no one was to leave until the operation was completed.

“It [crackdown] wasn’t a new experience for me but it was a lot stricter this time. Whatever it was, it was totally different from the previous operations,” said Ali, who has been living in Pakhtunabad for over 10 years now.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2012.