KARACHI: Just a few weeks after the reopening of a recreation ground within Safari Park on a court order, a huge cache of arms and ammunition stashed in its ticket counter was found by the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, on Tuesday morning.

The Rangers said the arms and ammunition belonged to the ‘militant wing’ of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London, alleging that its key leader Inbisat Malik was behind the dumping of the illegal arms, said a statement.

The Go Aish Karachi Adventure Park was reopened for public on a Sindh High Court order on March 1 after remaining closed for almost a year on account of non-payment of dues.

“The Rangers on an intelligence report raided Go Aish at Safari Park [to investigate] the dumping of a huge cache of arms planned by MQM-London leader Inbisat Malik who is also the son-in-law of another party leader, Mohammad Anwar,” said the statement.

“The Rangers recovered a huge cache of arms that was dumped in the ticket-selling section of the facility. The arms were planned to be used in militancy and violence in the city.”

The paramilitary force mentioned details of the arms that they claimed were to be used in killings and disturbing law and order of Karachi.

“The recovered arms included a light machine gun, 16 sub-machine guns, two shotguns, six 7mm rifles, three 223 bore rifles, two M-16s, a 30-bore pistol, four hand grenades, 10 ball bombs and a telescope,” said the statement.

The park, which was established on the hills of Safari Park in March 2007 and is the first-of-its-kind recreational spot in the city, was closed in May last year. The SHC issued directives to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to unlock the facility on a petition filed by the private management of Go Aish Karachi Adventure Park against the KMC authorities.

The Rangers’ statement, which also carried details about ammunition recovered in the raid at the adventure park, however, did not mention any details about the fate of the park management and any history of “arms dumping” inside the park.

Meanwhile, an unidentified armed bandit was killed in a ‘shoot-out’ with a policeman in Orangi Town while his aides were attempting to snatch cash and valuables from the officer on Tuesday, officials said. An official at the Iqbal Market police station said that policeman Abdul Ghaffar was riding to his workplace in civvies on a motorbike when three armed bandits intercepted him near Raees Amrohvi Colony in Sector 11 1/2.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017