KARACHI, June 3: Hundreds of angry protesters, besides surrounding the Orangi Extension Police Station and offices of the Orangi Town’s Nazim, lit bonfires and blocked vehicular traffic on Tuesday in protest against the alleged excesses of the ‘land mafia’.

They were carrying the body of a man, who had been killed in a clash with some alleged land mafia operators in Orangi Town on Monday night.

According to the police, Nazeer Hussain — a mason — was busy in building his own house near the Orangi Extension Police Station when Ameerullah Khan alias Musa, Shahzad alias Fauji, and Nazeer Mama, asked Nazeer and Sikandar Rajan to stop working. This led to a scuffle between them.

As a result, Nazeer and Rajan suffered injuries and were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where Nazeer later died. The police registered a case and arrested Ameerullah Khan alias Musa, Shahzad alias Fauji, and Nazeer Mama.

The residents of the area gathered in the morning and protested against the land mafia operators. They alleged that the Town’s Nazim — Shahid Alam alias Guddoo Bihari — was patronizing the mafia.

The protesters, who were carrying the body of Nazeer, went to the police station and chanted slogans against the police for allegedly protecting the land mafia operators of the area. They pelted the moving vehicles with stones, blocking the road for traffic from sector 8 to 16.

The unruly mob went to the house of Ameerullah alias Musa, ransacked it and then dragged the household items out before setting them on fire. The police interfered and tried to disperse the people.

The mob also reached the offices of the Orangi Town’s Nazim and staged a protest demonstration against him. They lit bonfires at many places on the main road. They wanted to proceed to the Governor’s House but the City Police Chief — Asad Ashraf Malik — and City Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, reached the spot and tried to cool down the protesters.

The people abandoned their plans to proceed to the Governor’s House on the assurances that an impartial inquiry would be constituted. However, the nervous administration erected barricades and parked trucks on both sides of the Aiwan-i-Saddar Road, thus closing the routes leading to the Governor’s House. Trucks were also parked on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road near the Chief Minister’s House for security reasons.

The city police chief has constituted an inquiry committee, led by the DIG Investigation, Mohammad Akbar. The committee would submit its findings in the next five days.

The Nazim of Orangi Town, in the meantime, has accused the MQM of involvement in the episode and maintained that the party wanted to undermine the city government system.

In a statment, Shahid Alam alleged that the MQM activists had set off the politics of violence when the houses of the nazim of UC-5, Kazmi, and another resident, Moosa, were burnt. This proved their intentions.

He demanded a judicial inquiry into the episode. Mr Alam also alleged that the presence of the Muttahida’s MPs in the Town Council office was indicative of their designs.

Deploring Nazeer’s killing, he expressed concern over attempts to implicate him in the case although the episode was the outcome of a dispute between two groups over a piece of land. An FIR had been lodged in this regard on Monday, he said.