At least 11 people, including two policemen, a gangster and a woman, were killed on Saturday in the ongoing battle between law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and criminal gangs for Karachi’s troubled Lyari area, a stronghold of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
The operation started after President Asif Ali Zardari ordered authorities to purge the area of criminals ahead of the general elections in 2013.
At least 19 people have so far been killed during two days of violence and more than 50 others have been left injured.
The operation is being led by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief SSP Chaudhry Aslam. The FC, police and Elite Force is taking part in the Lyari operation.
Lyari has turned into a battlefield and routine life in the town has come to a standstill. Shops and markets in the area have been closed down and people have been forced to remain inside their houses amid frequent exchange of heavy gunfire between LEAs and criminals.
On Saturday, residents of Lyari staged a protest demonstration at the main football ground against the operation and chanted slogans against LEAs.
They claimed that the LEAs had started looting their houses in the name of operation. They demanded President Zardari look into the matter and stop the operation in the PPP stronghold. Some leaders of the Peoples Aman Committee (PAC) have announced their disassociation with the PPP.
Zaffar Baloch, Habib Jan and Uzair Baloch were among those who announced their disassociation with the PPP.
Office-goers found it impossible to reach work, while the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) postponed exams in all six centres set up in Lyari.
Among those killed, at least nine people, including a Station House Officer (SHO), a woman, a policeman and the brother of a notorious criminal Mullah Nisar were killed in the jurisdiction of Kalakot police station. Killings also took place at Cheel Chowk, Afshani Gali, Gabol Park and Nawa Lane. Kalakot police SHO Azam Gopang refused to take part in the operation and relieved the charge of his police station.
At Afshani Gali, Jogi Chowk, miscreants equipped with sophisticated weapons attacked an armored personnel carrier (APC) of police and killed Civil Lines SHO Fawad Khan.
Kalakot police head moharir Waheed confirmed the killing. He said the miscreants fired rockets at the APC due to which the wind screen of the APC broke, after which they opened blatant fire and killed the SHO.
Waheed said an ASI of Civil Lines police station, Iftikhar and a head constable (HC) of Kalakot police, Syed Intizar Ali Shah, were also injured in the attack. He added that three men were also killed in Nawa Lane and were identified as Akhtar, Luqman and Wahid Bux.
Waheed added that two men, including a HC, were gunned down at Cheel Chowk. Another man, who was identified as Muhammad Azeem, was also killed at Cheel Chowk. Separately, a woman and a man were shot dead near Gabol Park. “Two others, including the brother of notorious Lyari gangster Mullah Nisar, Mullah Sohail and Akhtar Hussain were killed during the operation in Afshani Gali,” Waheed concluded.
CID Chief SSP Chaudhry Aslam told Pakistan Today that the operation was still going on and LEAs had cleared many areas of Lyari from criminals. He said LEAs had cleared Nawa Lane, Cheel Chowk and Afshani Gali and established its pickets.
He said two cops and three gangsters had been killed in the operation, adding that several innocent people had also fallen prey to the violence.
“I will not give a deadline for completion of the operation but I am hopeful that the operation would be concluded in a couple of days.” Additional Inspector General (AIG) Sindh Akhtar Ghorchani said that the criminals had sophisticated weapons and LEAs were facing difficulties in the operation. He said the criminals had the support of banned outfits and some anti-state elements, “but we will complete this operation soon”.
“We have put extra force on alert and if needed send it to Lyari to complete operation,” he said.
TV channels, meanwhile, reported that the police were being helped by the Arshad Pappu gang and they were actively participating in the “search operation”.
Uzair Baloch told a private TV channel that the search operation was in fact an attempt to hand over Lyari’s control to the Arshad Pappu gang.
Its foreign game part trying 2 destablise Pakistan. These Gangs hav modern weapons provided by anti state elements ie. US, jews n indians who r trying 2 exploit political situation in Karachi. The people of Pakistan are blind that they only see 1 side of story shown by our media which is funded by foreign anti state elements but they dnt realize the real aims of the foreign culprits who r playing da divide & rule policy. This mess will keep happening until root cause is removed
I dont agree. Its our own people, its MQM, PPP. Lyari is PPP stronghold & now Zardari, after four years, wants to do something. I sincerely look forward to his hanging, along with his son.
I agreed. Political parties are directly or indirectly the part of foreign culprits as they get training of terrorotry from them. They get weapons from them. Each and every political party having weapons wants to destroy Pakistan. They want fully control in the areas where different languages people are residing peacefully. They want to spoil this peaceful inviornment to achieve their politicl goals.
Total failure of governance, height of incompetence, collusion of criminals and the government of Sindh has handed over Karachi to criminals. In order to cut down MQM's influence in Karachi Mr. Zufiqar Mirza the former interior minister issued 30,000 automatic weapons to people mostly with a criminal record. These criminals bypassed all previous record of Bhatta collection and extortion of money by other groups and parties. There has to be a judicial investigation as to why this operation was ordered without giving police enough training and weapons to counter the elite force of amn committee, equipped with the latest weapons and training. Was there a method in madness to allow hard core and well trained fighter 'criminals" to escape?
Irrational comments.
Hey…………………Its all military and ISI paving way for their bloody revolution.when Taliban and and filthy beards would rule the country
Imaginez si l'opération était contre les zones dominées par le MQM Altaf Hussain et serait hurler contre le gouvernement et demander de l'aide des Nations Unies. Mais parce que le gouvernement actuel est l'otage de Altaf Hussain donc la police armée n'aura jamais un courage d'attaquer de nombreux domaines de Karachi infesté par des voyous du MQM.
Le gouvernement du PPP est une grave erreur de lancer l'opération contre Lyari. En principe, le gouvernement aurait dû prendre des mesures contre les autres ainsi. Le gouvernement du PPP a perdu son bastion et qui est à coup sûr.
Imagine if the operation was against the areas dominated by the MQM and Altaf Hussain would be yelling against the government and asking for United Nations help. But because the present government is hostage to Altaf Hussain therefore the armed police never will have a courage to attack many areas of Karachi infested by MQM thugs.
The PPP government is making a serious mistake to launch operation against Lyari. In principle the government should have taken action against others as well. The PPP government has lost their bastion and that is for sure.
What a coward government of PPP. In Sindh it has a clear majority but ever since it has formed the government in Sindh, it has consumed almost all the time to placate Altaf Hussain. Agreed that there are some criminal elements and terrorists in Lyari but what about the MQM terrorists who have been extorting money from people, torturing its opponents. harassing journalists who have tongue to take on thugs like Waseem, Haroon Raza and others.
This is third day 'police action' continuing against people of Lyari and this is just to please MQM. Chaudhry Aslam has been given a free hand to do whatever he likes against people of Lyari. Look at the outfit he is wearing. Does he look like a police officer?
où est le premier ministre du pays est?
Lyari a été remis à Monsieur officier de police Chaudhry Aslam. Il a l'air lui-même un bandit et il semble qu'il n'a pas de stratégie et de ses officiers de police ne semblent pas avoir une formation adéquate.
L'action contre Lyari est politiquement motivée pour faire Monsieur Altaf Hussain heureux. Si il ya des gangs de criminels dans Lyari puis il ya des criminels bien plus encore dans d'autres domaines de Karachi et de la chose intéressante est que ceux-ci sont assis dans le gouvernement
where is the Prime Minister of the country is?
Lyari has been handed over to Police Officer Mister Aslam Chaudhry. He looks himself a ruffian and it appears that he has no strategy and his police officers do not appear to have a proper training.
The action against Lyari is politically motivated to make Mister Altaf Hussain happy. If there are gangs of criminals in Lyari then there are much more criminals in other areas of Karachi and the interesting thing is that these are sitting in the government
"……..President Asif Ali Zardari ordered authorities to purge the area of criminals ahead of the general elections in 2013."
Really?? why doesnt he start with Gilani????
http://707monty.blogspot.com kill them all
like
Don Tapi Z has waged a battle for turf against Uzair Baluch to control Lyari. In the process poor residents of Lyari and policemen are being killed.
Don Altafu of Edgware London has tasked Don Az to help him establish his sole hegemony over Karachi. while Barber Rehman has been given the contract to achieve results
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