View from the top: Armed forces to carry out air surveillance during Muharram

City witnesses seven killings at the start of the week.

KARACHI:

The armed forces will be monitoring the situation from the skies and will be available on standby in case the city experiences any law and order situation during Ashura next week. 

The Sindh government decided to call the Pakistan Army troops to help protect the mourning processions and other vital installations in Karachi and other districts of Sindh. This was decided at a law and order meeting presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah at CM House on Monday.

The chief minister directed the police officials, who were represented by Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali, Karachi AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo and all DIGs, to be more proactive. The police must activate their intelligence network, said Shah.The chief minister also told the electricity providers to ensure uninterrupted power supply especially in the evening. A focal person will also be appointed in each district to coordinate with the religious leaders and the law enforcers.

Seven killings

Despite the security plans in place for Muharram, seven killings took place in the city on Monday.

The bodies of three men were found from the bushes in Abdullah Goth. Mochko police said that they have found scraps of paper with the bodies and concluded that two of the victims were Abdul Rehman Marri, 55, and Najeedullah Mehsud, 32. The bodies are now lying at the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth. A case has been registered.

Separately, an elderly man was shot dead in D' Silva Town in North Nazimabad. Bahadur Khan, 60, was the head of a jirga in Omar Farooq Colony.

A woman identified as Asiya Bibi, 55, was killed and Mehrab, 22, was wounded in firing at Rexor Lane in Lyari. Kalakot police officials said that Mehrab was the target.

In Quaidabad, at least three armed robbers opened fire at a passenger bus of route D-1 and killed a passenger, Afsar Khan, 30, and wounded a policeman, Fayyaz, 45. Shah Latif police said that the robbers opened fire when Fayyaz resisted and tried to catch them. Meanwhile, Wali Muhammad, 24, was killed for resisting a robbery at a Total petrol pump near Safoora Chowrangi. According to Gulistan-e-Jauhar police, the security guards at the pump managed to catch one of the two robbers, who was identified as Jamal.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2014.