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KARACHI, Jan 12: At least 15 persons were injured and a number of vehicles were damaged in a clash between supporters of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Orangi Town on Sunday night.
Police said following a corner meeting the MMA took out a procession. When the procession reached near Qadhafi Chowk, a stronghold of the MQM, supporters of the two parties pelted one another with stones.
A senior police official of Orangi Town said Qazi Husain Ahmed, the Jamaat- i-Islami chief, was leading the procession when the clash took place at Qadhafi Chowk.
Witnesses said the vehicle which Qazi Husain Ahmed was riding was also pelted with stones. In retaliation his guards fired shots in the air.
Some of the injured, who were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, were identified as Shaukat Ali, Saleem, Abdul Rahim, Mohammed Hanif and Zahid.
Sources at the hospital said none of the injured persons received any serious injury.
Police said some of the injured were taken to a private hospital.
The town police officer, Fayyaz Qureshi, confirmed the incident, but he said he did not know how many persons were injured in the clash.
Another meeting of the MQM was also scheduled to be held in Orangi Town.
Police and Rangers have been deployed to avert any further untoward incident.
After the clash, traffic was suspended around Qadhafi Chowk and shopkeepers closed their shops.
CLAIMS: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Jamaat-i-Islami, a component of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, have accused each other of creating law and order situation at Qadhafi Chowk, Orangi Town, where both the parties had organized rallies in connection with the by-election for NA-242 seat on Sunday.
A press release issued by the MQM said that the MMA activists resorted to attack ransack an election office of MQM and subjected several MQM workers in the office to torture in order to sabotage the MQM rally.
It alleged that the armed activists surrounded the police station misbehaved with the officials when the MQM candidate, Dr Abdul Qadir Khanzada and MPAs, Iqbal Qadri and Amir Moeen, reached there to lodge an FIR.
The MQM has appealed to President Musharraf to take a serious notice of the armed attacks and order the arrest of those involved in the attacks.
Meanwhile, the Jamaat-i-Islami accused MQM activists of sabotaging a corner meeting of the MMA in the area by resorting to intense stone-throwing, aerial firing and attacks.
The JI said that the MMA chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, was to address a corner meeting during the election campaign for the MMA candidate, Merajul Huda Siddiqui. As he left Al-Khidmat Hospital for Qadhafi Chowk, venue of the rally, the MQM activists resorted to aerial firing and stone-throwing causing heavy damage to a number of vehicles and injuries to dozens of MMA supporters, it alleged.
The JI claimed that police also resorted to shelling and baton-charge.
