Traders of M.A. Jinnah Road, including those from Tibet Centre, Mobile Market, and Automobile Market, observed a strike on Friday against unrelenting extortion and looting. The latest incident of extortion, traders claim, was on Thursday during the funeral procession of Sarfaraz Shah, the young man killed by Rangers personnel.
Traders argued that the goons were part of the procession that was heading to the graveyard. They got off the buses carrying the mourners, and began looting the shops in Saddar Electronic Market and Tibet Centre.
All Karachi Tajir Ittehad President Atique Mir told Pakistan Today that there were two reasons for their strike: first, the extortionist mafia has grown so strong in Saddar that they are asking for extortion in broad daylight but no one takes action against them. The other reason for the strike is the looting of shops in Tibet Centre and Saddar Electronics Market; police were present at the scene but they acted as spectators, he said.
SP Saddar Town Irshad Sehar said extortion cases are being looked into by Special Investigation Unit Head Raja Umer Khatab. “I cannot say anything in this regard,” he argued, but in the same breath, alleged that relatives of Sarfaraz Shah were involved in the looting.
Mir claimed on the other hand that the Sindh police do not have any technology for capturing extortionists. “We give the police 5-6 phone numbers of extortion callers every week, but the police simply refuse to take action against them,” he said.
