DAWN.COM | Metropolitan | Shoot-on-sight orders fail to stem violence
KARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s shoot-on-sight orders given to the Rangers and meetings with rival political parties persuading them to help establish peace in the city failed to bear fruit as six more people were gunned down and properties destroyed on Friday in the raging violence.
As the city’s southern district was under serious watch of the police, Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies due to the prime minister’s presence in the city, gunmen in the western and eastern districts of the provincial capital faced little challenge in executing their job.
Though fear gripped the hearts of a majority of the Karachiites, it failed to inspire the authorities to take effective measures to remove this feeling.
In a media address at the Central Police Office, the interior minister with top police officials and Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza heralded the return of peace to the city and harmony among the political forces.
But life did not return to normality in Qasba Colony and the neighbouring areas in Orangi Town, where frequent gunshots rattled the neighborhoods forcing residents to stay indoors and the law-enforcers at bay from the hotspot of Kati Pahari.
Among the victims were two youngsters who died from their wounds during treatment after being hit by bullets a couple of days ago in Qasba Colony.
In the early hours of the day gunmen on a motorbike targeted Shaukat, in his late 20s, outside his home in Sector D-3 of Baldia Town near Rubi Mor. They fired at least seven shots and three of them hit the victim in the head and chest, killing him on the spot. His body was shifted to the Civil Hospital.
A few minutes after his death, a timber godown and three shops were set on fire before the two houses in the area met with the same fate. At least four shops were also seen in flames almost at the same time in Chandi Chowk of Orangi Town Sector 11-1/2.
Hardly half an hour later, armed men gunned down Muhammad Rafiq in Muhammadi Colony. Originally hailing from southern Punjab, the victim was a construction worker and father of six.
The Docks police remained unable to determine any reason behind his killing, though a majority of the people killed during violence triggered after the assassination of Muttahida Qaumi Movement MPA Syed Raza Haider with his police guard on Monday evening belonged to the labour class.
Early in the morning, the Eidgah police found the body of a young man with multiple bullet wounds in Ranchhore Line. The 39-year-old Qazi Aftab was found dead in Sarya Gali.
In Korangi, a night watchman and a labourer were shot dead within a span of 20 minutes. The police suspected the dual murder was the job of the same attackers riding on a motorbike.
Zaman Town police said in Korangi 100 Quarters Sultan Khan, 60, was gunned down while he was returning home after performing night duty. He hailed from Swat.
Later, they fired shot outside a rented room in the same area where two brothers were leaving for work. Saeed Khan, 29, died on the spot and 33-year-old Zakir Khan sustained bullet wounds in a shoulder.
At the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, a young man in his early 30s died from bullet wounds after two days of the treatment. PPP activist Badshah Khan was hit by three bullets in the chest and abdomen when armed attackers on a motorbike targeted a bunch of people in Muslimabad near Qasba Colony within the remit of the Peerabad police station.
“The victim was operated upon twice but he could not survive,” said an official at the health facility. The situation in his residential areas remained beyond control of the law-enforcers, who have yet to assert their authority, leaving the area people’s lives at risk amid heavy gunfire and arson activities that have seen at least four houses on fire.
A large number of area residents have already migrated to safer places, staying at the homes of their relatives and friends. Those who have no other option but to live in their own homes are forced to stay indoors despite a serious threat to their lives.
Instead of action on ground, the authorities appeared more in designing new plans to avert targeted killings and its repercussions. Senator Rahman Malik and Dr Zulfiqar Mirza shared their thoughts on establishing a ‘new cell’ to counter targeted killings. The duo, however, did not divulge further details.
“We have already arrested 195 people and at least nine of them are targeted-killing suspects,” said Dr Mirza. “I am more interested in boosting the morale of my police and give them confidence to move against miscreants instead of appearing on TV channels.”
Mr Malik joined him and came up with another resolve to handle the situation within no time. “The prime minister is already here and would meet the political leaders and security authorities. We are here to ensure peace for this city and no one should have doubt over that.”
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Who are these people who are able to evern deter LEOs. ??
