KARACHI, June 9: Dozens of Lyari residents took to the streets on Thursday and marched on the Sindh Rangers temporary headquarters on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road in protest against the murder of a young man by the paramilitary force.

They also demanded an inquiry into the last month’s killing of two men in their locality allegedly by the same paramilitary force during a search operation.

A large number of protesters, some of them holding sticks, emerged from Lyari and marched on I.I. Chundrigar Road prompting police and Rangers to take strong security measures.

The protest rally caused a massive traffic jam just an hour before sunset on one of the busiest roads in the city.

Similarly, it also made police authorities block the main Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road.

Hundreds of vehicles coming from Merewether Tower and Light House areas to Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road were diverted to M.R. Kayani Road from Shaheen Complex that also caused traffic jams in the Saddar area.

The protesters had staged a sit-in on I.I. Chundrigar Road before marching on the Sindh Rangers headquarters.

A heavy contingent of police backed by Rangers personnel blocked the protesters way, but allowed them to stage a protest in front of the Rangers buidling for a brief period after negotiations.

The two men — Shariful Haq and Baba Ismail — had allegedly been killed by Rangers personnel in an encounter during a search operation last month.

Demanding an inquiry into the killings, the protesters said that the paramilitary force had staged a fake encounter to kill the two young men and now the killing of Sarfaraz Shah had compelled them to stage a protest demonstration here.

“The entire protest remained peaceful,” said SSP Irshad Ali Raza of the Saddar Town.

“The demonstrators in fact were protesting against the Rangers and stayed for a few minutes in front of its headquarters to make their protest registered. Later they dispersed peacefully.”