In an effort to prevent violence following the strike call given by the Sunni Ittehad Council, Rangers twice cordoned off the central office of Sunni Tehreek (ST) in the old city area and arrested the party’s central leader, Shahid Ghauri, and an activist, Mobin Qadri, in the wee hours of Friday. ST chief Sarwat Ejaz Qadri was also taken into custody but released moments later.
However, a heavy contingent of Rangers was deployed at the ST chief’s residence in Nazimabad.
The religious parties had given the strike call to protest the conviction of Mumtaz Qadri – the self-confessed murderer of slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.
A Rangers’ representative said that elements causing unrest would be ‘handled with force’. The Rangers personnel also raided dozens of ST offices, including Jahangir Road and Soldier Bazaar unit offices, arresting over 24 persons.
Rangers also arrested more than 12 persons with heavy weapons during raids on ST offices in Shah Faisal Colony, Soldier Bazaar and Lines Area.
Insiders in law enforcement agency said that four Kalashnikovs, eight TT Pistols, three 7mm rifles, four 9mm pistols and thousands of rounds were recovered in the operation. In another raid at the ST office in Jilani Centre, party leader Shakeel Qadri was also arrested and recovered a Kalashnikov and other weapons seized, the sources added.
A large number of ST activists protested against the arrest of their leaders by Rangers and blocked the MA Jinnah Road for hours.
STRIKE: A strike was observed on Friday in some areas of the city on the call from Sunni Ittehad Council against the conviction of the Punjab governor’s murderer.
The strike was supported by many religious parties including the ST, Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam.
Incidents of sporadic firing were reported in different areas, including Kharadar, Garden, Liaquatabad, New Karachi, Korangi, Landhi, New Karachi, Shah Faisal Colony, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Samanabad, as armed men on motorcycles forced shopkeepers to close down their businesses. Police said an ST activist was gunned down by his own party workers as they tried to force the shops from opening in Samanabad.
Traffic remained suspended in the said areas while petrol pumps also remained shut. Citizens were forced to stay indoors and faced difficulties in commuting as public transport was thin.
Meanwhile, two more people were killed and three public buses set ablaze in Korangi and Orangi Town areas.
A man was shot dead in the Garden area by unidentified assailants while another man was gunned down in North Karachi.
Crack down against peacefull ST on the pressure of USA. And when will the operation start against MQM?
Rangers working for MQM
For everyone's kind information, MQM unit offices and sector offices are being raided. Even the ruling party's Aman Committee offices have been raided. The operation is completely unbiased. the truth is, these so-called "peaceful" Sunni Tehreek activists are actually ex-MQM cronies who had joined ST to save their skin during the 90s operations, which is why they are so well trained and feared by all other groups in karachi, including MQM. If any of you ever lived in karachi, you would know this.
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