News
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Seven more killed as police fail to advance in Lyari* PPP MPA’s house, police stations attacked
* Sindh CM says operation to go on until elimination of criminals
Staff Report
KARACHI: At least seven people were killed and more than 40 wounded as the gun battle between police and gangsters entered sixth day on Wednesday.
Police failed to make advance in Lyari where gangsters, armed with sophisticated weapons, were giving tough time to law enforcers. At least 36 people have been killed since the police launched an operation in the area.
Sajjan Bibi was killed in Kalakot area when a bullet hit her inside her home. Seven-year- old Noor Zaib was killed during a shootout in Usmanabad.
Ismail Katchi was killed and seven other people injured during a rocket attack by gangsters on Jumman Baloch Road. Another violence victim, Amjad, who was wounded in Kalakot, succumbed to the injures on way to hospital.
Zafar Katchi was killed at Cheel Chowk and an unidentified man was knocked to death by a police’s armoured personnel carrier in Kalakot area. Police declined the incident.
Police also claimed that they had killed a gangster in Afshani Street. Gangsters also attacked police stations and the house of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA Rafiq Engineer in Shidi Lane. They also propelled rockets and hurled hand grenades in several other areas, including Lee Market, Kharadar, Chakiwara, Nawa Lane and Behtai Lane, wounding 40 people and damaging police vehicles.
Police called in further contingents of force and more APCs were deployed. Police said they had also called in 100 snipers to help fight gangsters.
A police officer said that there was no history of such kind of “prolonged and deadliest operation in which law enforcement agencies have failed and looking for a way out”.
“Political figures and influential Baloch tribes are engaged in negotiations with gangsters and the government because further operation will be more harmful for police,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.
The officer said that “covert hands” were supporting gangsters through various means and providing them logistic support and weapons.
Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said that security operation would continue in Lyari until all criminals were eliminated.
He was speaking at a press conference after presiding over a meeting on the law and order situation. The chief minister said that a strategy had been formed to deal with the situation in Lyari. He added Interior Minister Rehman Malik would arrive in Karachi today (Thursday) and hold meetings with law enforcement agencies.
He dispelled the impression that Rangers had not taken part in the Lyari operation, adding that Rangers were supporting police in the fight against criminals. He also denied that the action in Lyari was “one-sided”. Action against criminals had been taken across the board, he added.
The chief minister dispelled the impression that the PPP was losing support of the Baloch due to the operation in Lyari. He said the people of Lyari had and would remain with the PPP.
About attacks outside banks in different parts of Sindh, he said that “separatists and Taliban” were involved in these attacks.
The chief minister said the government had focused on the situation in Lyari because of the recent killing of PPP workers, including former Lyari town nazim Malik Muhammad Khan.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk