KARACHI, Oct 24: Several activists of jihadi organizations and policemen were injured, a checkpost of the traffic police was ransacked and a policeman stripped of his uniform in clashes at Numaish Chowrangi on Wednesday.
Besides, a few neon-signs were damaged at the Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum.
People had gathered outside a mosque at Numaish Chowrangi to offer funeral prayers of some of those killed in Afghanistan. Three processions — from the old City area, Guru Mandir intersection and Khudadad Colony — also joined the people at Numaish Chowrangi. As the bodies did not arrive in Karachi, people became enraged and expressed their anger against the government.
Speaking to the gathering after Asr prayers, Hafiz Mohammed Idrees, Supreme Commander of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Sindh-Balochistan chapter, accused the government of creating hurdles in the way of transportation of bodies from Afghanistan to Karachi.
He asked the gathering whether they would disperse without offering funeral prayers, or they wanted to stay till the arrival of bodies, people replied in one voice they would prefer to stay on. After this speech, the atmosphere became charged.
In the meantime, a procession coming from Khudadad Colony was stopped by personnel law-enforcement agencies near the roundabout of Shahrah-i-Quaideen which resulted in a clash between law-enforcers and those in the procession. Protesters threw brickbats on neon-signs beside the gate of the Quaid’s mausoleum, known as Baab-i-Ittehad.
The protesters also stormed into the premises of the Quaid’s mausoleum and ransacked benches. A few cars parked inside the premises of the mausoleum were also damaged.
Police fired teargas shells and resorted to baton charge to control the situation. Then people gathered at Numaish Chowrangi, and ransacked a traffic police checkpost.
Earlier, some of the people caught a police official, beat him with blows and kicks and stripped him of his official uniform. Protesters took the policeman’s uniform to Numaish Chowrangi and tore it into pieces.
After violence broke out, heavy contingents of police and rangers were deployed around the trouble spot to control the situation.
People offered Maghreb prayers at Numaish Chowrangi, after which speakers delivered speeches, condemning the president of Pakistan for siding with the US and its allies.
The protesters dispersed after an announcement that funeral prayers would be offered on Thursday afternoon.
Violence at Numaish Chowrangi caused traffic jams at various places as police had put up barricades to seal off roads at the Guru Mandir roundabout, turning of Capri Cinema on M. A. Jinnah Road and Shahrah-i-Quaideen roundabout.
The closure of roads led to traffic jams on Business Recorder Road, Nawab Siddique Ali khan Road in Nazimabad, Nishtar Road, Jamshed Road, Jehangir Road, Bahadur Yar Jang Road and Soldier Bazaar, etc.
FUNERAL PRAYERS: Funeral prayers of some of those killed in Afghanistan will be held on Thursday after Zuhar prayers at a mosque at Numaish Chowrangi on M. A. Jinnah Road.
Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai would lead the prayers.
This was announced by Maulana Mohammed Idrees, Supreme Commander of the Harkatul Mujahideen, after a meeting with the police and administration.
People had gathered at the mosque to offer funeral prayers, but when bodies did not arrive there, they became enraged.
Sources in the religious parties said 34 Pakistan nationals had been killed in the US-led air strikes in Afghanistan. Eight bodies were being brought from Afghanistan, as others had been dismembered.
Imran Abdul Aziz, resident of Moosa Lane, Mohammed Farooq, resident of Nazimabad, Abdul Hafiz, resident of Landhi, and Shamsher had so far been identified among those killed in the landlocked country, said a member of the Harkatul Mujahideen.
KARACHI, Oct 24: Several activists of jihadi organizations and policemen were injured, a checkpost of the traffic police was ransacked and a policeman stripped of his uniform in clashes at Numaish Chowrangi on Wednesday.
