At least five people, including Pakistan Rangers personnel, were killed in a strike against the management of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) on Friday that turned violent, as the city witnessed closure of major markets, no public transport and very little traffic on the roads.
The nationalist parties in Sindh (Awami National Party, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Punjabi Pakhtun Ittehad, Balochistan National Party and Pakistan Peoples’ Party-Shaheed Bhutto) had unanimously called for a strike in Karachi on Friday against prolonged power outages. After the strike was announced, violence erupted in various areas of the Karachi.
A group of people also began hurling stones and burning tires, disrupting traffic in the Sohrab Goth area of Karachi. Public transporters and petrol pumps joined in the strikes, causing further problems for local residents. Late into the night, unidentified miscreants attacked the Clifton grid station, causing a disruption in the operation of several feeders working for Kemari, Defence, Boat Basin, Shirin Jinnah Colony and other parts of the city.
Police, however, managed to regain control of the grid station from miscreants early on Friday. During the incident, a man named Sattar Ali Shah was killed by unidentified assailants when the miscreants were forcing shops to close. In another incident, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a restaurant in Mobeena Town police precincts and killed a man named Badal Khan.
During the strike, violence erupted in al Asif Square, where police and Rangers tried to control the situation. Constable Mumtaz, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Nawaz, ASI Khadim Hussain and two passers-by were injured when miscreants opened fire on their vehicles. Constable Mumtaz later succumbed to his injuries during treatment at the hospital. Police also found a bullet riddled body near Jama Millia College, Malir.
The identity of the deceased could not be ascertained. On the eve of the strike, 10 public and private vehicles were set on fire in various areas of city. In a statement, the general secretary of the People’s Workers Union denied that KESC employees were responsible for the violence and alleged that the management, in connivance with those who were not supporting the workers’ protest, were deliberately creating a crisis to blackmail the government into taking action against the labourers.
