KARACHI: March 7: Rangers stormed into parts of Lyari on Thursday hours after the bullet-riddled bodies of their two intelligence personnel were found in its neighbouring area and claimed having rounded up more than half a dozen suspects. The action sparked anger in the ranks of the Pakistan People’s Party, which saw it as an attempt to defame the ruling PPP in its stronghold.
Though the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, spokesman said the ‘operation’ was not linked with the killing of the two personnel, many including PPP leaders said the incident had prompted the paramilitary force to move into the neighbourhood.
Sources aware of the Rangers operation said the paramilitary soldiers focused mainly areas of Saifee Lane, Baghdadi, Phool Patti Lane, Dubai Chowk, Cheel Chowk and Lea Market to stay there for more than four hours during which intermittent gunfire scared Lyariites.
“More than 300 paramilitary soldiers raided strongholds of known gang leaders operating in Lyari, including Wasiullah Lakho, Shiraz Comrade and Jhingo,” said a source privy to the details of the Rangers operation. “Three kidnap victims were recovered from the Shiraz Comrade hideout. The victims were picked up in different areas of Lyari during the past one week. Investigations are on to know the motive for their kidnapping. Eight suspects were also held in raids.”
The Rangers operation came just hours after the bodies of its two officials were found in the Mewashah graveyard. The area police said both officials – Ejaz Baloch and Muhammad Muneer – had gone missing in the Lyari area some three days back and efforts to trace them were also made by the police and Rangers.
“The bodies were found early in the day in the Mewashah graveyard,” said an official at the Pak Colony police station. “The officials were associated with the Rangers field service, which deals with intelligence gathering for the paramilitary force. According to the information shared by Rangers officials, the victims had been missing for three days.”
Ejaz Baloch originally hailed from Lasbela district of Balochistan and was posted here in Liaquatabad division of the Sindh Rangers organisational structure. His victim colleague, Muhammad Muneer, was a resident of Pannu Aqil and lived here in Malir.
Both bodies were later moved to the Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities and then moved to their native towns after funeral prayers at the 43 Wing of Sindh Rangers near Malir Halt. Later in second half of the day, Rangers officials moved into parts of Lyari, which remained inaccessible to the people for more than four hours. Business remained closed and the people were forced to stay indoors as a brief exchange of gunfire was also heard.
The Rangers operation in Lyari sparked violent protests in the neighbourhood and parts of Malir. The area had witnessed more than a weeklong police siege in April 2012, leaving more than 20 people, including several policemen, dead. As the protesters burnt tyres and wooden structures on the main roads in Baghdadi, Hasht Chowk, Lea Market and other areas of Lyari, a bus was set on fire near Ghas Mandi in the Shoe Market area.
Enraged youngsters blocked the main National Highway at Memon Goth in Malir while chanting slogans against the Rangers operation in Lyari. The protesters in Lyari chanted slogans also against the PPP government over the arrest of area youngsters.However, senior leaders of the ruling party expressed anger over the Rangers move, saying the situation was not as bad as was made out by the paramilitary force which led to such a ‘harsh action’.
At a press conference, PPP member of the National Assembly Abdul Qadir Patel criticised the force Rangers had used against the ‘innocent and unarmed people of Lyari’.
“The kidnapping and killing of Rangers personnel proved our fears correct that conspirators are busy hatching plots against the PPP government just weeks before the general election,” said Mr Patel, also the PPP Karachi division president. “The way Rangers reacted against innocent people of Lyari was inappropriate. We see the entire episode as a conspiracy against the PPP to defame it in its strongholds.”
He also referred to his contact with Uzair Jan Baloch, leader of the banned Lyari Amn Committee, who had assured him that he would assist the Rangers in tracing criminals if they had credible information about their presence in Lyari.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which has recently parted ways with the PPP-led government, appreciated the Rangers ‘bold action’ against the criminals in Lyari, adding that the paramilitary force was ‘helpless’ before the killers of its own men.
“A group of armed people, including Major Kaleem and three to four other personnel, were stopped by members of the public in Landhi in June 18, 1991,” said MQM chief Altaf Hussain while talking to the coordination committee at the International Secretariat in London and Khursheed Begum Secretariat in Karachi. “Those who were accused of manhandling them were given a 27-year sentence, but the army is standing as a silent spectator to the kidnapping and killing of its men in Lyari. Are the army and the paramilitary force of the Rangers helpless before killers and terrorists? Are they feeling helplessness in taking any bold step against the terrorists?”