The sectarian clashes between Sunni Tehreek (ST) and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) spread from the Godhra area to other parts of the city on Friday as two more people were gunned down and 10 injured in religious violence in separate incidents.
The clash between the two rival sects had started on Thursday and claimed the lives of six citizens while more than a dozen, including a girl, were injured. Sectarian killings have resulted in the death of 8 persons within 24 hours while the law enforcement agencies seem helpless in controlling the situation in tense areas.
Even after the passage of 24 hours since sectarian riots broke out in Godhra, the situation in the area remained tense on Friday with all business activities closed down and transport remaining off the roads.
The residents had to face extreme difficulties for routine matters, as the area remained off-limits for even the police, who were reluctant to go into the area due to intense firing. Unidentified men opened fire on the personnel of law enforcement agencies, when the vehicles of Karachi police tried to enter the area.
According to details, a man identified as Saleem was shot dead and another injured in Sector 11-G, New Karachi during a clash between the two rival sects. Both the groups openly used automatic weapons while there were several reports of aerial firing in the area.
In another clash in the Landhi area, unidentified gunmen resorted to firing at a mosque killing one while injuring eight others.
Umm-e-Qurra mosque of the Ahle Hadees sect, in the jurisdiction of Landhi police station, was reportedly attacked due to a dispute over the possession of the land on which the mosque is built.
In the attack, a 26-year-old man identified as Omair was shot dead while eight others identified as Jameela, Babar, Kamran, Haris, Sultan, Furqan, Nasir, Mujeebur Rehman, Aurangzeb and Omer Amaan suffered bullet injuries.
A member of the mosque committee told Pakistan Today that they had won a case in the court over the possession of the mosque’s plot and the activists of a rival sect were threatening them to leave the mosque.
“Eight members of the ST came on motorcycles and opened fire on the people preparing for prayers,” he said.
A large number of people gathered in the area and staged a demonstration against the killing of Omair.
The police seemed reluctant in taking any action against the persons involved in the attack as no case was registered nor anyone arrested until the filing of the report.
The police said that the dispute between the two sects was on the plot of the mosque.
Separately, the police recovered the bullet-riddled body of a retired army man from his house. The deceased was identified as 55-year-old Major (retd) Muhammad Shafeeq while the police claimed it was a suicide case.
