Karachi witnesses another fateful May

It was a turmoil that has few parallels in an otherwise strife-torn Karachi, which was a grim reminder of May 12.

Although target killings and street-battles are almost a routine matter in the provincial metropolis, rarely a political-rally has been targeted the way it happened on Tuesday.

Ultimately the consequences of such indiscriminate firing in the rally were devastating.

All hell broke loose within minutes after unknown armed men opened fire on a rally took out by Awami Tehreek against the so-called movement for the division of Sindh.

Up till now, at least fifteen people have been lost their lives while over 30 sustained severe injuries. Many of the victims were innocent passers-by and bystanders, including a woman from PIA’s ground staff and a 12-year-old girl.

The anti- Mohajir province rally was attacked by snipers hidden in buildings in the surrounding streets. The firing unleashed panic that afterward left 15 people dead over of the rest of the day.

A Sindh-based nationalist party, the Awami Tehreek (AT), took out the rally with support of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Awami National Party (ANP).

Ayaz Latif Palijo, the president of the party, along with Lyari’s Uzair Jan Baloch and Zafar Baloch led the rally. The protestors chanted slogans saying, “We’ll die but we won’t let Sindh be divided”.

With a few thousand men, women and children, the rally titled Mohabbat-e-Sindh started out as a peaceful one and its destination was the Karachi Press Club (KPC). However, it came under attack at Napier Road, just a half hour after they headed out toward their destination.

As usual, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah issued orders for a judicial inquiry into the incident.  A serving judge of the Sindh High Court (SHC) will probe the attack; the spokesperson of the Chief Minister informed the media.

The ill-fated rally, which was a re-telecast show of May 12, was organized in reaction to the increasing appearance of graffiti calling for a separate Mohajir province to be carved out of Sindh.

Sindhi nationalists had already reacted badly a day before and the government had issued orders for the inflammatory wall chalking to be removed.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 23 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.