KARACHI: Death toll climbs as city shut down by strike
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 14: A complete strike was observed on Monday as four more people were killed, taking the death toll of ongoing violence to 46. Two people reportedly belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party were killed in Lyari when a party of Rangers, who have been empowered to shoot on sight anyone involved in riots, opened fire on protesters to disperse them.
Shops were closed, public transport remained off the roads and the city wore a deserted look throughout the day.
Life crawled back to normal in the evening, though scattered incidents of violent activities were reported in certain violence-prone localities in the downtown and western district.
Heavy contingents of Rangers and police were deployed in sensitive areas, and the law-enforcers intensified patrolling city roads and streets.
The shutdown was so effective that even the paan-cigarette cabins and small confectionery stalls, a permanent feature of almost every locality, were closed.
By and large people chose to remain indoors amid fear and tension. While the public transport was nowhere to be seen, private cars and motorbikes also remained off the streets mainly due to a shortage of fuel.
A few petrol pumps and gas stations resumed their business late in the evening, but most of them kept them covered with marquees for the third consecutive day.
Life in the provincial capital literally came to a halt as the day was observed by the supporters of both the government and the opposition. The government had announced a public holiday to mourn the deaths of Saturday violence.
All commercial centres, shopping malls and wholesale markets remained closed in every part of the city. Restaurants, tea stalls, fruit and vegetables stalls were also closed. There was an acute shortage of milk, vegetables and fruits in the city.
Though vegetables and fruits reached the New Sabzi Mandi from the interior of Sindh, they could not be supplied to outlets in the city.
The bullet-riddled body of a 32-year-old man was found in a gunny bag in the limits of Bin Qasim police, and a man was shot dead in his house in Peerabad.
Awami National Party claimed that one of the victims was its worker. However, police said the deaths were the result of personal enmity.
Exchanges of sporadic fire between rival groups was reported from Orangi Town, Qasba Colony, Baldia Town, Sohrab Goth and Lyari. Some miscreants also torched old tyres on the streets.
The Rangers said they arrested five trouble makers in separate actions near Sohrab Goth and seized two TT pistols from two of them.
KARACHI, May 14: A complete strike was observed on Monday as four more people were killed, taking the death toll of ongoing violence to 46. Two people reportedly belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party were killed in Lyari when a party of Rangers, who have been empowered to shoot on sight anyone involved in riots, opened fire on protesters to disperse them.
