KARACHI, July 9: Twenty-one people, including women and a child, were wounded when ‘rifle grenades’ were fired at an office of the banned People’s Amn Committee on Tuesday, police officials said.

They said the police suspected that the PAC’s rival gang led by Ghaffar Zikri was involved in the attacks.

They said around ‘three to four rifle grenades’ were fired at the PAC’s office in Zikri Mohalla, hitting the office and nearby places. The injured included a Hindu woman, a five-year-old child and 10 men. All victims were passersby. Their condition was stated to be out of danger.

“The banned outfit had occupied Ghaffar Zikri’s home a few years ago and turned it into its office,” said a Baghdadi police officer, Muhammad Khan. “We suspect that in today’s grenade attack the Zikri group was involved.”

A Bomb Disposal Squad official told Dawn that a BDS team was sent to the locality to assess the situation. He said a ‘rifle grenade’ was first used in Lyari around five years back. It was made in a factory and mostly such rifle grenades were Russian made. “It is similar to a hand grenade, but with a significant difference,” said the BDS official. While a hand grenade could travel up to 40 metres only and exploded within four seconds after its pin was opened, a rifle grenade could travel up to a kilometre and hit its target as a bullet. The BDS official said of late it had been noted that a ‘launcher’ was being used to fire such grenades in Lyari.

Situation in affected area

The situation in the affected neighbourhoods of Juna Masjid, Hingorabad, Agra Taj and Bihar Colony had improved on Monday after senior local officials intervened to bring about normality there.

Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui called notables from the Baloch and Kutchhi communities into his office on Monday and formed a committee with the inclusion of two representatives from each side.

They decided to hold weekly meetings to discuss ways to improve the law and order situation in troubled localities.

As the meeting concluded, life in the troubled neighbourhoods began to normalise, shops and markets, which had been shut for many days, opened and people, stranded for a long time, breathed a sigh of relief.

However, certain families saw it an opportunity to migrate peacefully. They hired vehicles, loaded them with their maximum belongings and headed for ‘safe areas’.“People are continuously migrating. They include families belonging to both communities,” said Mohammad Ismail, a resident of Phoolpatti Lane. “Many of us believe that the momentary calm is a far cry from a lasting peace.” He said this view was reinforced when a day’s peace drifted away when a young shopkeeper’s body was found on Tuesday morning in an affected locality.

According to the Kutchhi Rabita Council (KRC), the victim, Mohammad Hanif, 22, was one of the two people who had been ‘kidnapped by the rival gang’ a few days before.

In the morning, the recovery of Hanif’s body sparked protests in the neighbourhoods dominated by the Kutchhi community. A few hours later in the afternoon, three ‘grenades’ were hurled at the residential area of Phoolpatti Lane and another on Hingorabad.

Several people, wounded in the explosions, were shifted to the Lyari General Hospital.

Ayesha Bibi, an injured woman, said she was busy in household chores when part of her house’s wall fell down with an explosion, injuring her and her minor son.

Witnesses said another cracker or grenade was lying unexploded in a lane of an affected neighbourhood.

“The grenade is dangerously lying in a street and no one has come to defuse it though we have informed the police,” said Akhtar Ali, a local social worker of Phoolpatti Lane.

A spokesman for the dominant Uzair Jan Baloch’s group blamed a ‘third force’ for the attacks saying the perpetrators did not want to see peace restored to Lyari.

“The third force has the agenda to divide Lyari’s communities to dominate and rule. These elements want to keep Lyari in a negative frame for their ulterior motives,” said Mr Baloch’s spokesman.

However, a KRC spokesman alleged the ex-Peoples Amn Committee was behind the explosions, adding: “By doing this they want to gather sympathies.

“They hurled a cracker on Hingorabad and three on Phoolpatti Lane to inflict harm on both communities so that no one pointed a finger to them,” said the spokesman.

People in the area, however, said they were fed up with the unending unrest, which, according to them, had ruined the lives of their families.

“Life has become too difficult here. Many people who have their relatives in safe areas have an option to leave, but a large majority has no such choice,” said Munawwar Hussain, a bakery owner in Agra Taj Colony.

Reports from various parts of Lyari suggested of continuous migration of people. Several families have migrated to Thatta and Badin districts – a fact corroborated by the local authorities and regional media.

“We appeal to these people to please not go away as it will benefit the third force. We are ready to do everything to bring about a permanent peace in Lyari,” said Mr Baloch’s spokesman.

Commissioner Siddiqui said the areas affected by the unrest on Tuesday were not the ones that had been affected for many days.

“These areas are different although they are close to the ones that we have succeeded to get normalised. Police and Rangers are already on board. They are committed to bringing about peace in Lyari,” he told Dawn.