KARACHI: Ten persons were killed, including a woman and an infant, and over a dozen were injured in Karachi yesterday [June 8] ... when Police opened fire on the funeral procession of a labourer who had been killed in the previous day’s Police firing in SITE. The trouble started when workers residing in Banaras Colony, Pathan Colony and Frontier Colony ... brought out the funeral procession of Mohammad Shoaib... .

The entire area had been cordoned off by a heavy contingent of Police consisting of tear-gas squads, armed squads and constabulary armed with lathis. Hundreds of Policemen had taken up positions outside the colonies. ...

The funeral procession started from the Frontier Colony after a meeting at 9.30 a.m. The procession had almost crossed the dry bed of the Orangi Nullah and was approaching the main road towards Nazimabad, when its way was blocked by the Police. They did not allow the procession to proceed further and the workers started raising slogans. After about ten minutes, the Police started firing tear-gas shells... . In retaliation, the workers started stoning the Police. ...[T] Police force retreated gradually and came behind the armed squad which then opened fire.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2022