LEAs ready to do their job if traders ready to do theirs
Sindh Rangers DG Major General Rizwan Akhtar, accompanied by senior officials of the paramilitary force, visited various areas of the city to review the security situation. PHOTO: PPI
Police and Rangers claimed on Wednesday that they were prepared to provide protection to traders and transporters if they decided to resume commercial activities. They clarified, however, that the traders would need to muster the courage to open their businesses themselves as the police could not do this for them.
Sindh Rangers DG Major General Rizwan Akhtar, accompanied by senior officials of the paramilitary force, visited various areas of the city to review the security situation. The law enforcers also held meetings with traders and transporters, assuring them of foolproof security.
“It is up to the government to ask the MQM to end the closure of the city,” a senior Rangers official told The Express Tribune. “We cannot go and open the markets and shops,” he maintained. “If the traders are willing to open their businesses, we will provide them protection.”
Karachi Police spokesperson Inspector Atiq Shaikh told The Express Tribune that the police were already implementing the contingency plan. “Our job is to provide protection and we will continue to do so.”
Cases registered
Police have registered cases against protesters for torching public and private vehicles and have also declared the arrests of 11 suspects for rioting.
Around 16 public and private vehicles and a train engine were set ablaze in different parts of the city on Tuesday, moments after news of the arrest of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain was aired on news channels. The police have registered cases against the torching of eight vehicles and the railway engine, while the cases of the remaining vehicles have yet to be registered.
An FIR No. 182/14 was registered at the Awami Colony police station for setting three vehicles on fire on Tuesday. The case has been registered against seven political workers, identified as Ali Raza, Arsalan, Faisal, Rashid, Sajid, Naeem and Kashif.
Separately, Zaman Town police registered an FIR No. 242/14 under Sections 147,148,149 and 435 for setting three vehicles on fire. Samanabad police have also registered FIR No. 80/14 for torching a bus near Gulberg Chowrangi.
Similarly, Mobina Town police also registered an FIR, No. 159/147, for torching a truck at Abul Hassan Isphani Road. SHO Maqsood Raza claimed to have arrested two suspects, Shakir Ali and Sabir Ali, over their alleged involvement in the incident. Meanwhile, Railway Cantonment police also registered an FIR No. 21/14 against unidentified persons for setting the railway engine on fire near Drigh Road Railway Station.
Other parts of Sindh
An MQM worker, Fayaz Ahmed Yousuf, was shot dead during a clash in a commercial area of Sanghar. In Nawabshah, 13 persons were injured in firing and clashes as protesters tried to force shopkeepers to close their shops. Incidents of violence were also reported in Bhit Shah where the police booked 22 rioters and arrested one person for threatening traders to shut the market. The protests disrupted commercial activities in the City and Latifabad tehsils of Hyderabad. Some of the commercial areas in Nawabshah, Sanghar, Tando Allahyar, Jamshoro and Mirpurkhas districts also remained shut.
Meanwhile, all bazaars and business centres in Sukkur remained closed on Wednesday. In some localities, traders had opened their shops in the morning. Police teams were deployed at all the main roads, streets and bazaars to avert any untoward incident.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2014.