November 11, 2008	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 12, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 10: Two workers of the Sunni Tehrik were gunned down and as many were wounded in an attack in North Nazimabad on Monday, police and witnesses said.

Tension and panic gripped the vicinity following the attack as shopkeepers pulled down their shutters and the vehicular traffic disappeared from the streets, the witnesses said.

The SP of the North Nazimabad Town, Khurrum Waris, told Dawn that the ST workers were sitting outside a house in Block-T when two armed men on a motorcycle pulled up and opened fire on them. An ST worker died instantly and three others were wounded. The body and the three injured were first shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. One of the victims succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

The party’s media coordinator, Fahimuddin Shaikh, told Dawn that Hafiz Farhan Qadri was sitting along with three party workers – Ahmed Qadri, Sajid Qadri and Asif Qadri – outside his house at around 9:45pm when they were attacked. He said that Hafiz Farhan Qadri, 28, and Asif Qadri, 26, died in the incident.

Farhan and Asif were reportedly the North Nazimabad sector in charge and joint sector in charge of the party, respectively.

The media coordinator said that the bodies and the injured were later shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where ST central leader Shahid Ghauri and a large number of party workers gathered. He said that the ST workers were being targeted by the terrorists for the past month and a half.

“One of our workers, Furqan Qadri, was shot dead in North Karachi late on Sunday night,” he said, adding that the victim was a former unit in charge of the party in New Karachi.

No case of Furqan Qadri’s murder was registered till late Monday night as police said they were still waiting for the complainant.

Protest against extortion

Traders and shopkeepers staged a violent protest against extortion by gangsters at Nishtar Road and its adjoining markets.

Witnesses said a large number of the shopkeepers and traders of timber market, spare parts, oil market, Ghanchi Para, Chander Lane and Ranchore Lane took to the streets and burnt old tyres at around 9am. They said the protesting shopkeepers also pelted vehicular traffic with stones.

The protesters said they had been receiving threatening calls from gangsters of Lyari for extortion over the past six months. They demanded of the authorities and police to provide them proper security so that they could run their business without any fear.

The SHO of Shahrah-i-Noor Jahan police station, Zafar Iqbal, told Dawn that the shopkeepers and traders agreed to end their protest after a series of negotiations. He said the police had taken strict measures for the security of the shopkeepers and traders. “We have set up a picket and intensified the patrolling,” he added.