KARACHI: A young mourner was wounded in a clash between two sectarian groups in Surjani Town on Thursday.
A small procession was heading towards Shah Khurasan to join the main procession of Muharram 9. When the procession reached near the Siddique-e-Akber mosque in Sector 7-A of Surjani Town, a group of bystanders started chanting slogans against them.
The mourners stopped to respond to the group, and soon both groups were shouting slogans against each other.
A large number of people from both sects gathered on the spot, and after an exchange of heated words, both groups started hurling stones at each other.
Some of them started beating up people with sticks and resorted to straight firing as well.
As soon as firing started, people ran for cover in narrow lanes in the area. However, a young mourner was hit by a bullet in his leg.
The mourner was rushed to the Aga Khan University Hospital for treatment. He was identified as Yawar Abbas alias Danish, son of Wazir Abbas.
The father of the wounded mourner told Pakistan Today that as the procession was passing by the Siddique-e-Akber mosque, some people inside the mosque shouted slogans against their sect. “A large number of people gathered around the mosque and started arguing with one other.”
He said some unidentified people opened fire, and there were no law enforcers present at the scene at the time, but later, police and Rangers mobiles arrived on the spot and dispersed the incited people.
SHO Musaddiq Rafiq said elders from both sects had come to the police station and the hatchet had been buried.
Tension prevailed in Surjani Town as intermittent aerial firing was frequently reported.
