KARACHI: A young man was shot at and wounded in a clash between two ‘rival’ parties in Shah Faisal Colony on Sunday, officials said.

It was followed by arson acts triggering fear and panic and forcing shopkeepers to close their shops, added the officials.

Tension also prevailed in Landhi for identical reasons, said the officials.

The police said that the clash broke out between workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi in Shah Faisal Colony-3.

As a result, a man identified as Waseem sustained bullet wounds. He was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. He received serious bullet wounds on his back, said Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the emergency department.

A motorbike was also set on fire, which was destroyed, said a fire brigade official.

The official said that they did not enter the area to extinguish the fire as law enforcers did not provide them protection. Shops and other commercial activities were suspended in Shah Faisal Colony.

Unidentified men fired guns into the air near an office of a political group in a Landhi locality triggering tension in the area, said a senior police officer.

The senior officer, who wished not to be named, told Dawn that the law enforcers were suspecting more trouble in the coming days as different groups might assert their power following the local government elections leading to a turf war between the supposed rival parties.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2015