KARACHI: Teargas used to disperse mob near Sohrab Goth
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, March 3: Police resorted to teargas shelling and baton-charge on Wednesday to disperse a mob off the Super Highway, near Sohrab Goth, following a clash between two groups.
According to witnesses, the police fired teargas shells and baton-charged people when they clashed with the participants of a procession taken out to protest against the Quetta killings. They were condemning the terrorist act in Quetta, where about 45 mourners in a procession were killed, and demanding the killers' arrest.
The protest demonstration took an ugly turn when area residents near Gulzar-i-Hijri police chowki, dominated by people of the NWFP origin, snatched motorcycles from two young men, who were coming from Ancholi and riding towards Abbas Town on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road.
Reports said that the two motorcyclists were allegedly beaten up and let off subsequently. They straight went to Abbas Town, where the procession turned violent and advanced towards Super Highway. The police tried to stop the procession, but failed, witnesses said.
Some other witnesses said that participants of the procession overturned some fruit carts, which infuriated the residents and they clashed with the protesters.
Other witnesses said that the protesters pelted shops with stones and forced shopkeepers to close down their business, which led to clash of shopkeepers with the protesters.
Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town Police Officer Abdul Khaliq Shaikh told Dawn that shopkeepers, most of whom were Pashtoons, resisted when the protesters forced them to shut their shops.
A group of Pashtoons gathered at the spot and clashed with the protesters. The police had to use teargas shells to disperse Pashtoons, he added. The participants of the procession also blocked Super Highway for an hour that was cleared by the police later.
Some witnesses said that the shops on way of the procession on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road and in Ancholi were forcibly closed while the area residents said that the shops were closed since morning.
Witnesses said that protesters lit bonfire as Abul Hasan Ispahani Road was littered with bonfire and stones. The traffic was not allowed on the road and street lights were also closed. Window-panes of a number of vehicles parked in the area were also smashed.
Reports about burning of motorcycles were also received. However, Gulshan-i-Iqbal TPO Abdul Khaliq said that no vehicle was torched and only bonfire was lit during the protest.
High ranking police officers, provincial and city government representatives besides the officials of intelligence agencies held talks with the leaders of Shia community, who were present at the spot for bringing the situation under control.
Meanwhile, thousands of mourners staged a four-hour sit-in on M.A. Jinnah Road near Boulton Market on Tuesday to protest against the Quetta killings, in which 45 mourners of the main Ashura procession were showered with bullets by terrorists.
