KARACHI, Sept 3: Police encircled Ali Mohammad Mohalla (old Kalri) in Lyari Town on Saturday midnight and started a door-to-door search operation that continued till 9.30 Sunday morning. According to the area residents, some of the youths were picked up by the law enforcers but were released later on.
The predominantly Baloch locality has been the hub of political agitation after the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
A large number of youths of the area have actively participated in rallies condemning the military action in Kohlu.
A community leader accused miscreants of trying to create ethnic tensions by pitting Balochs with other communities by attacking their properties.
He said “our youths were never involved in the acts of looting and arson.”
Condemning the midnight operation; he said it created panic among the residents and urged the political parties to stop the police harassment in the area.
Meanwhile, the area residents condemned the police for subjecting the youths to excesses on the pretext of search of so-called suspects and illegal arms. They said it was not the first time that the police had been conducting raids in their locality to terrorise them and create panic among the residents.
They also complained that the entire locality had been made hostage forcing elderly people, women and children to remain awake till dawn, saying that raids were unlawful and could not be justified in any manner.
They further pointed out that police teams often stormed any house of their choice in the name of raid without having a valid warrant and they never showed any respect to the womenfolk and elderly people, already shocked and terrified by the manner in which such raids on their houses were conducted.
In some cases, the residents complained that they did not spare even children while using force without justification.
The angry residents claimed that it was witnessed that instead of arresting culprits, the police always victimise innocent people.
Activists representing various NGOs condemned the police action, saying that there was no justification for siege and search operation as the situation had returned to normal on Saturday morning and no any untoward incident was reported till the evening.
As far as the ethnic tension was concerned, elderly persons representing the Baloch and Niazi communities held a meeting to sort out the issues in the evening, they further informed.
They urged the senior police officials to take effective measures to ensure safety and security of the people in the locality and direct their forces not to harass the masses.
Release demanded: PPP legislator from Lyari in Sindh Assembly Rafiq Engineer has urged the government
to release all those arrested by the police for protesting against the slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
The PPP leader said the reaction of the Lyari people was natural as there existed a strong cultural and historical bond between the people of Lyari and Balochistan and youths of the area had rightly voiced their concern against the gruesome murder by holding rallies and thus by exercising their democratic rights.
The legislator condemned the police for adopting harsh attitude towards the protestors.
