KARACHI, July 6: Several people were injured when participants of a procession, taken out to protest against the carnage in Quetta, resorted to violence near Sohrab Goth on Sunday.
The disturbances led to the disruption and postponement of many marriage ceremonies scheduled for the day in the affected area.
Witnesses said the protesters set a motorcycle on fire and lit bonfire along the Waterpump-Sohrab Goth section of Shahrah-i-Pakistan and pelted marriage halls and shops with stones.
The procession was taken out from an Imambargah in Ancholi under the auspices of Markazi Tanzeem-i-Aza. After passing through different roads, it emerged on Shahrah-i-Pakistan, in front of Yusuf Plaza, and started moving towards the Sohrab Goth intersection.
Reports from the area said that the procession turned violent while the participants, raising slogans against the culprits of the carnage in Quetta, in which a large number of people were killed and injured a few days back, were on way to Sohrab Goth.
Although the law enforcement agencies remained alert and moved swiftly to contain the situation, some of the youths in small groups moved into the nearby lanes and bylanes and took positions. They resorted to intermittent attacks on police and rangers, as well as passing vehicles, with stones. The law enforcement agencies personnel also intervened accordingly. The hide-and-seek continued till our going to press.
More than 50 people were picked up on the charge of indulging in violence.
Groups of angry youths also pelted Hyderabad-bound buses and other vehicles with stones causing injuries to several passengers, some of whom had to be taken to private hospitals.
Police and rangers tried to bring the situation under control but the they also came under attack by the stone-throwing mob. The law enforcement agencies personnel had to baton-charge the protesters in order to disperse them.
As the windowpanes of several marriage halls were smashed in the mob attacks, ceremonies scheduled to be held there were either postponed or their venues had to changed on emergency basis, according to the affected host and guest families.
A group of youths attacked a private concern, Mamji Hospital, with stones and ransacked its properties. They also took out its furniture and threw it on the road amid hue and cry by the patients and visitors inside the hospital. The panicked people were seen running helter-skelter to escape an injury.
The protesters also caused damage to a nearby bank branch.
Due to the disturbances, traffic jams were witnessed at different roundabouts and along various side roads leading to Sohrab Goth intersection. The traffic police personnel stopped vehicular traffic from heading towards the intersection from either side and diverted it to alternative routes.
The traffic flow from Super Highway, heading towards Sohrab Goth intersection was diverted to Abul Hasan Isphani road whereas the traffic from Gulshan-i-Iqbal to this intersection was diverted to Dastagir.
Commuters from North Karachi side via Shah Waliullah Road were diverted to Buffer Zone and those from Aisha Manzil were advised to adopt the roads leading to either Dastagir Society or North Nazimabad.
The operators of the Traffic Helpline ‘915’ were unaware of the disturbances and traffic jams along Shahrah-i-Pakistan. They remained helpless in guiding the commuters on safe and smooth route during the violence.
KARACHI, July 6: Several people were injured when participants of a procession, taken out to protest against the carnage in Quetta, resorted to violence near Sohrab Goth on Sunday.
