Protests in Lyari at Sonara’s killing

Staff Report

KARACHI: Protest demonstrations were held in various parts of Lyari on Monday at the killing of Ali Mohammed Sonara, a leader of Ghinwa Bhutto’s PPP Shaheed Bhutto Group, creating a law-and-order situation in areas including Kalri, Baghdadi, Lea Market, Kalakot, Agra Taj Colony, and in some parts of Kharadar, where Sonara was gunned down Sunday night with a party associate Abdus Samad. Three people were injured.

The funeral prayers of Mr Sonara was held at Kakri Ground in which about 200 people took part. His dead body was buried in his ancestral Sonara graveyard in Mawach Goth in Keamari Town.

Ms Bhutto, who is chairperson of the PPP-SB, demanded a judicial inquiry into the killing incident and the killers’ early arrest.

The Pakistan People Party (PPP) remained silent on the killing. Mr Sonara was diehard PPP worker before he parted ways with the party to join Ghinwa Bhutto’s husband, the late Mir Murtaza Bhutto, who established the PPP-SB.

Firing in the air continued late into the night as the news of the killing spread in those areas in Layri where the PPP-SB has a followers. Lyari as a whole is considered to be a stronghold of the mainline Pakistan People’s Party. Schools, colleges, shops and markets remained closed in the affected areas. Traffic remained thin the whole day vehicles avoiding the troubled areas.

The protesters pelted stones and burnt tires in the affected parts of Lyari to close shops and shut businesses. Many people preferred to stay indoors.

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