They came, they saw and they conquered Chakra Goth

Chakra Goth, one of the historical neighbourhoods of Korangi Town, remained in the grip of fear on Saturday after 30 people, including five police commandos, were killed and Quaidabad deputy superintendent of police injured as a result of miscreants equipped with automatic weapons opening fire on the elite force police commando bus on Friday.
Ghulam Mustafa Memon, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader who contested election from the area for the Sindh Assembly seat and lives in the same locality, said that the incident had occurred only to terrify the residents.
“They [the criminals] were roaming the streets, but they did not target anyone. Personally, I believe that they just wanted to terrify the residents,” he said.
Public and private schools, grocery shops and others selling daily-use commodities remained closed, and playgrounds deserted as mothers preferred that their children stayed inside the house.
Employed people of the locality were not able to leave for their jobs, and public transport among other vehicles was nowhere to be seen on the roads.
Among the residents of the surrounding areas, including the people living in this strife-torn neighbourhood located just a few kilometres from the Arabian Sea coast, the tragic day has become a ‘Black Friday’ for them.
Rickshaw and taxi drivers refused to take passengers from any part of the city to Chakra Goth and other areas in the vicinity. Widespread fear in the area even forced the beggars to shift to other places.
Relatives of those living in Chakra Goth have been constantly distressed as most of them have been continuously calling their relatives to check if they were safe.
Near the main roundabout, the remains of torched buses, trucks and cars presented the sad story of the residents’ ordeals.
“They [the criminals] were many in number. Holding guns, they roamed the streets as if they had conquered our area,” said Muhammad Subhan Junejo, a resident of the area.
After spotting media personnel in the locality, a large number of people took to the streets and staged a protest, chanting slogans against the government for failing to provide them with security.
“Such a big incident has taken place in our area and even though the police were present on the scene, but they did nothing. We fear that something like this could happen again, so we demand the government to provide us with security,” said the protesters.
Zeenat, a Bengali-speaking housewife, said, “We always watch the news about killings and incidents of firing. We have also watched footages of burning vehicles, but we never thought it could happen to us, here in our locality.”
Armed men had taken over the street on which her house is located. “I was horrified of the sounds of gunfire as I have never heard them so close. All seven of my children clung to me in fear and were unable to speak,” she said.
Incidents of violence in the city have reached such an alarming level that almost everyone who lives in Pakistan’s biggest city that was once known as the ‘City of Lights’ has witnessed the heat of violence at least once.
The people of Karachi live in constant fear and incidents like those that have taken place in Chakra Goth are enough to ensure that they remain frightened all the time.