KARACHI: Police authorities have arrested around 15 people for allegedly violating the government ban on firing shots into the air to herald New Year, which caused injuries to 12 persons, including three women and a minor girl, officials and rescue services said on Wednesday.

According to hospital sources, 12 persons were shot at and wounded owing to jubilation firing carried out in different parts of the city on Tuesday night.

Out of them, six wounded persons were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, said Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director of the hospital. None of them sustained life-threatening wounds.

Five more injured were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital while one person was taken to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, hospital sources added.

An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that a minor girl was hurt in Gulshan-i-Iqbal who was taken to a private hospital.

The rescue service official added Um-i-Banim, 12, was shot at and wounded near her residence in Block-4 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, when unknown persons resorted to firing. She was taken to the Aga Khan University Hospital for further treatment.

The Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that among the injured were three women.

A 40-year-old woman was shot at in Mehmoodabad.

A 28-year-old woman, Rahul Pervez, was injured in aerial firing in Hindu Para of Jinnah Hospital Colony in Saddar.

Noman, 30, was injured in Lines Area.

A 22-year-old man, Amjad, was hurt in Defence phase-VII Extension.

Ms Areeba, 22, was injured in F. B Area, Block-16.

In Orangi Town, 35-year-old Shakeel Rehman was wounded. A man, Matiur Rehman, 55, was shot at in Qasba Colony.

An 18-year-old girl, Hina, was shot at and wounded in Sector-16-A of Buffer Zone within the remit of the Taimuria police station. The Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that the teenag girl had received bullet wound on her face.

A 22-year-old person, Noman, was injured in F. B Area near Darbar-i-Sultani.

An 18-year-old youth, Azeem, sustained a bullet wound in F. C Area within the remit of the Sharifabad police station.

A 20-year-old man, Hasnain, was shot at and wounded in Swat Colony of Baldia.

A 21-year-old person, Hamid Ali, was shot at when unidentified persons resorted to firing in Clifton near Icon Tower.

The police officials claimed that they had taken strict action against people who had carried out firing into the air owing to which the number of people injured this year was less than previous years’.

One senior official said that every year more than 20 persons were got injured due to jubilation firing.

Meanwhile, the city police have arrested 15 suspects over charges of conducting aerial firing and 11 weapons were seized from them. First Information Reports have been registered against them under relevant sections.

According to the police sources, out of the 15 arrested suspects, seven persons were arrested in East Zone, one in South Zone and seven in West Zone of the city police.

Karachi East Zone DIG, Amir Farooqi told Dawn that the police had registered FIRs under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) 337-H2 (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2020