July 03, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 28, 1429

KARACHI, July 2: A large number of vehicles were parked in a haphazard manner in the middle of a road in Banaras Colony on Wednesday to disrupt movement of vehicular traffic in protest against the thrashing of a minibus crew by its passengers on Tuesday night.

Drivers, conductors and public transport vehicles’ owners took part in the protest and demanded safety and security, besides action against those involved in the incident. On Tuesday night, passengers of a minibus (No. P-3500) were robbed of their cash and belongings by a gang traveling in the same vehicle at around 10pm near Valika Hospital. Later, the enraged passengers staged a demonstration at Orangi 5 and during the course of the protest, they also thrashed driver Mohammad Shamim and conductor Ashraf of the minibus. The victims were admitted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.Taking advantage of the chaos at the scene of the protest, miscreants attacked the vehicle and caused damage to it. They also took away a tape-recorder and some other valuable items fixed in the minibus.

Owner of the vehicle, along with other transport operators, went to the police station concerned to lodge an FIR. However, they claimed, the police demanded bribe to oblige them. Some influential transporters intervened and got the FIR registered.

Since no arrest was made till Wednesday morning, a large number of transporters and their employees assembled at Banaras Colony and brought several public transport vehicles to stage a protest demonstration.—PPI