KARACHI, Dec 25: A young political worker was killed in New Karachi on Tuesday when some half a dozen armed men riding three motorcycles opened fire on a Muttahida Qaumi Movement election office in the locality, in an act of targeted killing said to have come in response to the torching of six vehicles in several areas of the city following retaliatory firing allegedly between the MQM and Sunni Tehrik. Two people were also injured in what appeared to be the second episode of pre-poll violence in a week.

Rehan, 22, father of a three-month-old girl, was sitting at a paan shop in Sector 5-G of New Karachi, waiting for the inauguration of a newly-set up election office of the MQM’s candidate Abdul Waseem, who is contesting polls from NA-243, when he came under fire.

“The MQM workers were dancing to a party song when six armed persons on three motorcycles stopped there and opened fire indiscriminately,” said an area police official, adding that the assailants fled after the attack. “A bullet hit the head of the MQM worker, who died on the spot,” he said, adding that the police reached the spot and cordoned off the crime scene.

The MQM’s Abdul Waseem alleged that “miscreants” who were involved in episodes of violence earlier in the day were behind the party worker’s killing. “The Sunni Tehrik has been involved in other incidents of firing on our offices in other areas, too. This incident has links to the same, we believe,” he said.

The evening incident triggered violence in different parts of Shah Faisal Colony, New Karachi and Baldia Town as unknown persons resorted to gunfire. The Sunni Tehrik’s election offices in the affected areas were targets of firing allegedly by MQM workers.

“MQM workers in Baldia Town forced our workers to leave the office through intense firing,” said Mubin Qadri, member of the ST’s Rabita Committee. “Similarly, armed activists of the MQM raided our election offices in Shah Faisal Colony and New Karachi and manhandled our workers after firing,” he claimed.

However, he said no casualties or injuries were suffered by party workers during the alleged incidence of firing on the ST offices across the city.

Police sources and eyewitnesses said violence first gripped the city areas in the afternoon, sparked by a police party’s raid on the central office of the Sunni Tehrik. Illegal weapons were allegedly netted in the raid while more than 20 ST workers were rounded up in the small hours of the day.The ST alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was behind the action and claimed that the Governor’s House was directly involved in the moves against the party, while the ST leadership expressed ignorance over violence in the city. Police authorities accused the party of violating law and order and registered two separate cases against its workers.

“We have complaints against the Sunni Tehrik and we asked them several times to respond positively, but it was in vain,” said Captain (retd) Tahir Naveed, SP Saddar Town, while justifying the late night raid on the ST’s office on Baba-i-Urdu Road in the Risala police station area.

“We recovered several unlicensed arms from the office including four repeater guns, a 7mm rifle and hundreds of rounds. We also arrested some 20 of their workers and registered an FIR against those under Sections 147, 148, 149 and 253 of the Pakistan Penal Code with the Risala police station.”

The ST workers took to the streets in different areas of the city and forced shopkeepers to put up the shutters in several parts of New Karachi, Soldier Bazaar and Shah Faisal Colony, on the day when President Pervez Musharraf was in the city to pay homage to Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah on his 131st birth anniversary.

Vehicles torched

The violent protesters also intercepted private vehicles and public transport in several areas and managed to set six vehicles on fire. In New Karachi, a W-11 minibus was attacked with projectiles before it was torched. A few minutes later an ‘N’ route minibus was stopped near Do Minute Chowrangi by some unknown culprits who also set it on fire. A car in Sharifabad and a bus in the Power House area also met the same fate in the prolonged violence.

Gunshots were also heard in New Karachi and Soldier Bazaar frequently. Two injured people, including a woman, were brought to the Civil Hospital and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre amid violence in the city.

Though confirmation did not come from the police, sources in the hospitals said both the injured – Sawera and Javed – suffered bullet wounds and came under fire in the Soldier Bazaar and New Karachi areas respectively.

Violence also spread to Shah Faisal Colony where a van was set on fire by unknown persons and firing forced shopkeepers to keep their businesses closed. The frightened residents of Shah Faisal Colony No 1 also preferred to stay at home on the public holiday.

With closed businesses, few vehicles on the roads and frequent gunshots, the area wore the look of a locality under curfew in the afternoon. Later in the evening, the situation normalised when the police increased their mobility and registered a case against unknown culprits. “An FIR (347/2007) has been registered under Section 435 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which defines mischief by fire or explosive substances with the intent to cause damage,” said Nadir Khan, SHO Shah Faisal Colony.

He said neither the police had nominated anyone in the FIR, nor had they made any arrest so far. He added that the matter was being investigated.

‘Bad consequences’

However, the ST leaders claimed that they were being victimised.

“The MQM workers fired on our office,” said Shahid Ghori, central leader of the Sunni Tehrik. “The police are loyal to the MQM leadership and are forcing us to defy the law of the land for protection. The police raided our office and implicated our workers in fake cases,” he added.

He asked the Sindh government to move against the MQM so that other parties could lead a peaceful election campaign in the city. Mr Ghori also warned of “bad consequences” if the ST was obstructed from its election campaign in particular areas.

“The use of state machinery to support a single party in the city must be stopped,” he said. “The current situation is not satisfactory and if it prevails, we will be forced to take measures on our own.”

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