KARACHI, Feb 28: Police detained over 50 participants of a funeral procession in Kharadar area for damaging public and private property on Friday.
The incident occurred when the participants of the funeral procession of Ghulam Hussain and Baqar Raza, who were killed in a terrorist attack on Thursday night, were returning from Ali Bagh graveyard in Lyari, reports said.
The owner of a coffee house/bakery and his nephew, both of an Iranian descent, were shot dead by three unknown armed men on the M.A. Jinnah Road.
The processionists forced shopkeepers in Lea Market to close their businesses. The enraged youths started pelting moving and parked vehicles with stones in the Lea Market and Kharadar areas. They also lit bonfires in the old city area.
An eating house — Al-Khair Hotel — was also damaged, police said.
As the trouble spread, shops in the old city area and Jodia Bazaar were closed down. The enraged youths also tried to put a water tanker on fire near Kaghazi Bazaar but failed in their bid due to police intervention.
Two buses carrying the participants of the funeral procession were detained by the police near Tower and around 50 persons were lodged at the Kharadar, Mithadar, Arambagh and Gizri police stations.
The DIG (operations), Tariq Jamil, told Dawn that around fifty persons had been detained near the Jamaat Khana in Kharadar. “They will be released after taking undertakings from them,” he added.
Following the killings, tension had griped different parts of the city and enraged youths started pelting vehicles with stones in Rizvia Society and Ancholi.
After Friday prayers, the bodies were taken to the Bara Imambargah in Kharadar, where Maulana Abbas Kumali and MMA MNA Mohammad Husain Mahanti addressed the gathering.
When leader of the Islami Tehrik, Allama Hasan Turabi, who was representing the MMA, tried to address the gathering, the people did not allow him to speak and started raising slogans.
The funeral prayers for the deceased were offered at the Husanian Iranian Imambargah and the bodies were laid to rest at the Ali Bagh graveyard.