No end in sight: Sits-in continue throughout the city amid confusion

Karachi mourns for Hazara killings for third consecutive day.

KARACHI: Protests against the killing of Hazara community members in Quetta continued for the third straight day on Tuesday, amid confusion after a main Shia organisation announced that it was calling off the nationwide protests.

Sits-in and rallies were organised in more than 20 different areas of the city, including Landhi, Korangi, National Highway, Jinnah airport’s Star Gate, University Road, Abdul Hassan Isphani Road, Ayesha Manzil, Rizvia Society, Teen Talwar, Ancholi, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Orangi Town, Kharadar, Safora Chowrangi, Pehlwan Goth and Hyderi, among other areas. Major sits-in were staged at Numaish Chowrangi, Ancholi, Malir, and Five Star Chowrangi in Nazimabad.

On Tuesday evening, reports emerged from Quetta that the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) had called off the protests, after six troubleshooters from the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government met Shia leaders, and accepted a majority of their demands.

However, calls to bring an end to the sits-in were met with derision by protestors in Karachi, who were adamant that they would stay on the streets until the families of the victims of the Quetta attack were satisfied with the government’s promises.



“We are here to express our solidarity with the families of the victims, not with the leaders,” exclaimed Abbas Ali, a youngster who was present at the sit-in at Numaish Chowrangi. “We will stay here until those families [in Quetta] remain on the streets.”

MWM’s secretary general Maulana Sadiq Raza Taqvi, however, said that they were negotiating with families of the victims, and appeared hopeful that they would soon call off their sit-in.

Political parties, religious leaders unite

Leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and other parties, as well as Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, Wahid Tavawala from the Bohri community and Father Joseph Paul from the Christian community, gathered at the Karachi Press Club and unequivocally condemned the Quetta attack.

Renowned Shia scholar Allama Talib Jauhari termed the current government “a sinister democracy,” and demanded that it either acknowledge it’s incompetence and resign, or else solve the menace of militancy and extremism in the country.



“Terrorists have got the licence to kill in major cities, and now terror reigns in Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi,” said MQM’s deputy convener Farooq Sattar.

JI Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mehanti said that a large chunk of taxes go to law enforcement agencies, but “they have miserably failed to deliver. The second attack wouldn’t have taken place if those responsible for the first attack [last month] were apprehended”.

The protests erupted simultaneously all over the country on Sunday, after over 90 Shia Hazara community members were killed and over 100 injured in a bomb blast at a packed market in Hazara Town. The community was also targeted by twin blasts in Quetta’s Alamdar Road on January 10, when over 100 people were killed.

At another press conference, Shia leaders also condemned the authorities’ reluctance to take action against known militant outfits like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which has claimed responsibility for the Quetta carnage. “LeJ chief [Malik Ishaq] roams around freely in the country, and there is no one to stop him,” said MWM’s Nasir Shirzai. “There have been 250 casualties in 30 days, but that was not enough to move the government.”

Sporadic violence reported

Educational institutions and a majority of markets in the city remained closed for the second straight day. The city remained mostly peaceful, though reports of violence were received from Lines Area near Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum, Jinnah airport, Kharadar, and Safora Chowrangi. Over half a dozen vehicles were set on fire as well. When asked to comment on the inconvenience caused to the city’s residents, MWM’s Shirazi said that it was natural for the protestors to react in the way they did. “In many places, the outpouring of grief was spontaneous. Even we couldn’t control them,” he admitted.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2013.