KARACHI, May 12: Pitiful, shocking scenes were witnessed on Saturday as several people, who were injured during armed clashes at Sharea Faisal at Malir 15 and Malir Halt, later succumbed to their wounds on the main road. Their bodies lay unattended for several hours on the city’s main thoroughfare.
Mostly belonging to the opposition parties, some of the injured managed to crawl to the neighbourhood of Malir Halt. At least six bodies were lying on main Sharea Faisal near Malir Halt traffic signal.
This reporter witnessed several injured people, who had suffered gunshots in the arms or legs, being comforted by area residents, who did their best to bandage their wounds. Ironically, only the ambulances of Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation, the welfare wing of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were visible since the beginning of the day in the affected area.
A KKF ambulance carrying four injured persons was seen collecting them and dumping them in a local Malir hospital.
Two bodies were seen lying for several hours in front of the Bhittai Rangers’ Headquarters, but the jawans didn’t bother to remove the bodies.
Moreover, several hours-long gun battles were practically fought in front of the Bhittai Rangers’ Headquarters, but the rangers apparently decided to look the other way.
This reporter saw a police mobile collecting dead bodies several hours after the bloody shootout.
All the bodies collected from Malir were dumped at a spot by the police, from where Edhi ambulances collected them and shifted them to different hospitals. An eyewitness told Dawn that miscreants even took out cell phones and cash from the bodies before fleeing.
Police, especially the SHOs and sectors in charge of Shah Faisal, Malir City, Khokhrapar and adjoining areas were seen working in exemplary coordination. Party activists were seen carrying repeater guns and TT pistols with impunity.
All routes to the airport were blocked by over-enthusiastic workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, who had blocked Sharea Faisal from Drigh Road onwards by parking commandeered public transport vehicles. At some places, the blockade was so tight that even a motorcycle could hardly pass through.
A route which connects the airport through Gulistan-i-Jauhar was blocked by Muttahida workers, who boarded public and private vehicles.
Rangers on the outer cordon were preventing passengers and airline workers from getting through to the airport. A rangers’ official told this reporter that the party workers had dug trenches on the route.
On the other side, Muttahida workers carrying party flags had blocked the intersection that connects the airport to Malir Cantonment, by parking minibuses and containers placed on trucks.
Rangers personnel were standing at the outer cordon at the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport, while ASF officials were at the inner cordon.
However, they allowed workers carrying Muttahida flags on motorcycles into the airport premises, though they were checking the media for their identity.
After entering both the domestic departure and arrivals lounges, the workers started chanting slogans. In the afternoon, when workers carrying Muttahida flags -- some equipped with the latest weaponry -- started retreating from Sharea Faisal, a rangers’ convey moved out from Bhittai Rangers’ Headquarters and asked the Muttahida workers to end their blockade.
The workers boarded minibuses as some vehicles with tinted glasses were seen escorted by the rangers’ convey.
Some of the opposition workers of the ANP were also seen carrying arms, which they used against Muttahida activists.
