Share this story!            

Rangers get orders to shoot rioters in Karachi

* Eight dead, nine injured in Sunday violence
* Shops and motorcycles burnt, police post attacked
* Ethnic tensions run high in Orangi Town

KARACHI: The government ordered Rangers to shoot rioters on sight and imposed Section 144 as eight people were killed and nine, including three policemen, injured in a second day of violence here on Sunday.

On Saturday, 34 people were killed and more than 130 wounded in the worst political street violence in the country in two decades, sparked when the suspended chief justice of Pakistan tried to address supporters at the Sindh High Court. Sunday’s casualties took the death toll from two days to 40 dead, and raised the spectre of bloody ethnic feuding that plagued Karachi in the 1980s and 1990s.

“The Rangers have got extra powers of shoot on sight and arrest in case of riots and violence,” Major General Javed Zia, head of the Rangers, told AFP.

Federal Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the government had ordered extra troops into troubled areas to restore order. Officials said about 18,000 paramilitary rangers and police were on the ground. “We have sent more contingents of paramilitary troops for deployment in affected areas of Karachi,” Sherpao said.

The Sindh government imposed Section 144, banning public meetings, processions and rallies in the province for 30 days, Geo TV reported. Marriages and funeral processions will remain exempt from Section 144. The province also banned the carrying of weapons in public.

Staff report adds: But the bloodshed continued on Sunday, especially in Pakhtoon-dominated areas. Two motorcycles and six shops were burnt down, and a police 15 centre, as well as petrol pumps and shops were attacked. About 50 arrests were made, Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi said.

Tensions ran particularly high in Orangi Town, which has both Pakhtoon- and Muhajir-dominated areas. Early Sunday morning, shots were fired at Aligarh, a Muhajir area in Orangi Town surrounded on three sides by Pakhtoon areas. Aligarh residents returned fire. A man identified as Muhammad Ali, 60, died in Qasba Colony on the outskirts of Aligarh. He was reported to be a bystander who drove a donkey cart.

Banaras Chowk, a main thoroughfare in Orangi Town, had been blocked since Saturday night with passing cars attacked with stones. A mob also attacked the Kulsoom Bai Valika Hospital near Banaras Chowk, and targeted Muhajirs.

A second major clash took place again in the afternoon. One man, identified as Muhammad Noorani, died in the crossfire, and six civilians and three policemen were injured.

In Manghopir, two unidentified bodies were found in the evening. The hands and feet of both victims were tied, and the bodies were riddled with bullets. Ashraf, an MQM worker died at Liaquat National Hospital while receiving treatment for a bullet wound near Orangi Town.

A Pakhtoon group and a Muhajir group also clashed at Gulberg chowrangi when a funeral procession for an MQM member was passing through the area. Police were brought in when the two groups exchanged fire. The mob, however, burnt down six Pukhtoon-owned shops in the building.

On Super Highway, an unidentified 25-year-old man was shot and killed during a clash between the police and rioters. The body of a kidnapped man, Saifur Rehman, 40, was found in Quaidabad. Another body, Sarwar, was found near the walls of the Naval Colony in Ibrahim Hyderi. Both the PPP and MQM claimed Sarwar belonged to their party.

Home | Main

Share this story!