KARACHI, Nov 24: The charred body of a man was found in a school and six vehicles were set on fire in troubled areas of Malir, Landhi and Korangi, on Sunday.

Malir remained the most disturbed as the markets and shops remained closed and traffic was off the road. The violence-related incidents have increased in a reaction by the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) after they lost grip over their dominated areas in Malir, Korangi and Landhi as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement entered these areas under the cover of rangers and the police on 19th and they had been taking control of other areas gradually, the sources said.

Police said the charred body of a man, in his late 20s, was found on a rooftop of the City School in Saudabad. The police were told by the area people that the man was brought to the school by unidentified men and burnt alive. The body showed that the cloth was put into his mouth and might have been trussed up before he had been set afire. The body was sent to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for autopsy, where he could not be identified. The body was buried by Edhi Foundation as it could not be kept due to stench.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement had entered Malir under the cover of rangers and the police a couple of days back. The areas were dominated by its rival Mohajir Qaumi Movement. Since the entry of the Muttahida, the entire Malir turned tense and the intermittent firing in the air continued unabated creating fear among the citizens.

The rangers and the police were unable to control the situation and arrest the miscreants, who had been firing in the air with automatic weapons and creating hurdles in the traffic movement, the residents claimed.

They said the firing started Sunday after Sehri and continued intermittently till 10am. The miscreants did not allow the traffic to move even the commercial vehicles. The people were left stranded on the bus stops for getting to their destination. In the afternoon, minibuses began to ply on the road when some miscreants stopped a minibus of route D-6 (JE-2227) near Al-Habib Mosque in Khokhrapar, Malir and set it ablaze, after which the transporters took their vehicles off the road.

The residents claimed that the fire would have been put out and the minibus saved from burning if the fire brigade station could have been functioning in Saudabad adjacent to the graveyard, where the rangers had illegally occupied the building for the past more than nine years.

The fire brigade sources said on receiving information they dispatched the fire tender from their station in Shah Faisal Colony as their station in Saudabad, Malir was occupied by the rangers.

Another minibus was also torched in the same locality and it could also not be saved from complete destruction.