At least 11 people, including two women and a minor girl, were killed and over two dozen people sustained serious bullet wounds in an attack on a joint rally organised on Tuesday by the banned People’s Aman Committee (PAC) and the Awami Tehreek (AT) against the rising demands for a separate “Muhajir Sooba”. Calls for a separate province for immigrants had been making rounds in Karachi since the past few weeks after similar demands in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Several dozen unidentified women had recently held a demonstration at Arts Council Chowrangi in Karachi in support of a “Muhajir Sooba”. On the other hand, nationalist parties had vowed not to allow the bifurcation of Sindh and Tuesday’s attack appears to be the beginning of violence over the thorny issue. Per reports, hundreds of protesters, including women and children, from Lyari took out a rally against the demands for a “Mohajir Province” from Ath Chowk in Lyari.
The rally was led by PAC leader Uzair Jan Baloch and Awami Tehreek leader Ayaz Latif Palejo. The rally was heading towards the Karachi Press Club (KPC) where the protesters planned a sit-in, but as they reached MA Jinnah Road near Denso Hall, some unidentified armed men opened fire at the people from atop buildings in the area.
The firing resulted in a stampede and people ran amok in panic, looking for shelter. As the protesters started heading back towards their houses in Lyari after the attack, some unidentified men again fired on them from within the residential flats between Garden and Dhobi Ghat area and killed a number of people. Besides, 10 shops in Chemical Market along the MA Jinnah Road, 10 vehicles and nine motorcycles were set on fire in violence following the attack on the rally. Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Latif Palejo announced a wheel-jam strike across Sindh to protest the attack. “We will avenge the killings, but I make it clear that we will not target innocent people as our enemies did today,” Palejo said, adding that those earlier held responsible for deadly incidents of April 9, May 12 and Ashura blast in the metropolis were behind the firing on the rally. He alleged that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had sold Karachi in the name reconciliation. “Those who want Karachi as a separate province must keep one thing in mind that Karachi is linked with up-country from Sindh and Karachi receives its water share from Kotri, which is located in interior Sindh,” he said.
He also appealed to army chief General Ashfaq Kayani to look into the matter. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Coordination Committee condemned the killing of innocent people in the rally. Talking to Pakistan Today, the South Zone DIG said 11 people, including two women and a minor girl, were killed and 28 others injured in the attacks. To a question about the security of the rally, he said the organisers of the rally did not approach law enforcement agencies for securing the procession, but police had itself deployed adequate number of personnel to protect the participants. Fear engulfed the city after the attack and ensuing violence. Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) postponed all exams scheduled for May 23 (today) due to tense situation in the city.
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