KARACHI / HYDERABAD: At least 17 explosions caused by small improvised bombs and crackers were reported from across Sindh on Friday night, ahead of a strike called by the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) against MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s statement about division of the province.
At least four blasts in Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Hadeed, Qayyumabad, Mobina Town and Nagan Chowrangi areas sowed fear in the neighborhoods and police officials termed them an attempt by the JSMM to spread terror ahead of Saturday’s strike.
According to police officials, a cracker was lobbed near Mosamyat (Met) roundabout and fireworks were thrown from the Qayyumabad bridge and in Gulshan-i-Hadeed. A cracker was also thrown from the Nagan Chowrangi bridge. No damage was reported.
Although no group claimed responsibility for the blasts, Jamshoro police claimed to have caught two JSMM activists carrying a cracker and a party pamphlet. Jamshoro SSP Wasi Hyder said Kamran Bughio and Mukhtiar Leghari were arrested in Bhan Saeedabad. Two armed men were arrested in Kotri Site area, he said.
It appears that the blasts were only meant to cause panic and harassment because no-one was injured.
In Hyderabad, unknown people lobbed crackers at seven places. The improvised bombs were thrown outside a police helpline (15) office in Qasimabad, on Qazi Abdul Qayyum Road near Kaimkhani hostel, at Hyder Chowk, in Latifabad Unit-7 near a taxi stop, on Hali Road and at Liberty Chowk.
The JSMM has called for a strike in protest against the British government’s silence over the MQM chief’s statement about division of Sindh. JSMM chairman Shafi Burfat said in a statement that if the British government maintained silence while its soil was used against Sindh then its interests in the province would be at stake.
Hyderabad SSP Irfan Bahadur suspended four SHOs in whose areas the blasts had taken place. The SHOs of Bhit Shah and Dadu were also suspended.
DADU: Miscreants lobbed crackers outside an old building of district jail, slightly damaging a parked police van, and an outlet of a cellular company, at Cinema Chowk, in Resham Gali, on Station Road and National Highway near Kotri and at the Jamshoro railway crossing.
NAUSHAHRO FEROZE: Two crackers exploded near the Jamia Masjid in Kandiaro, one behind a branch of the National Bank and another at rail tracks at the Mehrabpur railway station.
Mehrabpur SHO Allah Wasayo Pitafi said the blast did not damage the tracks was meant to spread panic.