SUKKUR More than 30 people suffered injuries, 10 hit by stray bullets and the rest in road accidents mainly caused by reckless driving by unruly and underage bikers as the city prepared for the 61st Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday night, just before the clock struck 1200 and afterwards.

Parts of the city kept reverberating with gunshots throughout the night with no police deployed in any area to stop them.

The scenario was contrary to the claims of DPO Sukkur Sharjeel Khan Kharal who had said at a meeting with district nazim on Aug 12 that 2,000 personnel of police would be deployed at public and private places, buildings and parks to maintain law and order on Aug 14.

The police official had said that an advanced intelligence network had been established with a control room operating round the clock to tackle any untoward incident during the day.

Close TV circuit (CCTV) cameras will also be installed at important places, roundabouts and public places to detect the miscreants, he had claimed.

The injured, mainly comprising youths, continued to be brought to the Civil Hospital and other Hospitals until early Thursday morning but it appeared no personnel of any law enforcing agency took any notice though the DCO had said that the SHOs would conduct snap-checking of vehicles under the supervision of SPOs but nothing was seen on ground.

A solemn event until a couple of years ago the Independence Day celebrations as well as the other important days have become a permanent cause of inconvenience for people in the city because police never bother to stop the unruliness.

Those who suffered injuries from stray bullets included a young boy and a seven year old child.