Hidden wars: Hungorabad’s residents protest grenade attacks

We are being targeted by gangs demanding extortion money, say protesters.

KARACHI: Residents of Hungorabad held a protest on Mauripur Road against a grenade attack that wounded four people on Tuesday.

A cattle farmer, Muhammad Ali alias Kaka Hungoro and three other men, Faizan, Hassan and Zikria, were sitting in a hut in Hungorabad, Lyari, when four men on two motorcycles hurled a grenade at them. According to witnesses, the culprits also fired at the hut. The victims were taken to Civil hospital and were discharged after treatment.

Following the incident, the residents blocked Mauripur Road for two hours shouting slogans against gang wars and demanding that the culprits be arrested. The protesters, who also set tyres on fire and threw stones at passing vehicles, claimed that they were being targeted by gangs because they refused to pay extortion.

The police assured the protesters of their cooperation and registered the case. SHO Chand Khan Niazi insisted, however, that there were no demands for extortion. He also mentioned that the victims belonged to Kutchi Rabita Committee and might have been targeted by a gang from Lyari.

In a separate incident, a roadside burger vendor, Muhammad Shahid, was wounded when an unidentified man hurled a grenade on a flour shop nearby on Tara Chand Road, Keamari. He was taken to Civil hospital. Two grenades were also found in Chanesar Goth, Mehmoodabad, on Wednesday. DSP Altaf Hussain explained that the grenades had been placed on an empty plot. The residents alleged that the grenades had been lying in the plots for many days and the police officials, despite being informed, did not arrive until after one of them exploded. DSP Hussain denied, however, that the police were warned earlier.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2013.