Karachi wears deserted look as MQM observes day of mourning

KARACHI: The city wore a deserted look after the leadership of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) decided to stage a peaceful protest across Sindh province on Friday (today) against ‘repression, barbarism and the continued extrajudicial murders’ of its workers, Geo News reported.

Following the MQM’s appeal, shops, markets and petrol pumps across Karachi are completely shut while the public and private transport is also thin on roads.

All Private School Association has also announced to keep all the private school closed while Sindh Technical Board and Karachi Intermediate Board have also cancelled the papers and practical exams that were scheduled for today.

Deputy Convener Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui had announced to observe a strike while addressing a press conference at Nine Zero on Thursday after the recovery of four bodies of MQM workers from Memon Goth Link Road on Wednesday.

They were later identified as Muhammad Sameed, Ali Haider, Faizan and Salman Qureshi and were affiliated with MQM’s Mayammar and Gulshan-e- Iqbal sectors.

The founder and leader of MQM, Altaf Hussain also strongly condemned the extrajudicial murders of MQM’s four workers.

Following the four slain men being identified as MQM workers, tension gripped the entire city, where unknown armed men forced all business activities to close.

A large number of MQM leaders and activists reached the Edhi Morgue near Sohrab Goth to pick up the bodies of the slain party workers, during which passing vehicles were pelted with stones.

A heavy contingent of police and Rangers personnel reached the troubled area, where teargas shelling and aerial firing were employed to disperse the protesters.

A bus and a motorcycle rickshaw were torched by miscreants as an apparent show of mourning over the killings of MQM workers.

A bus bearing registration No JB-0303 was also set ablaze near Bismillah Chowk in Landhi No 6. The vehicle was completely destroyed by the time fire engines could reach the scene. Moreover, a Qingqi rickshaw was torched near Dastagir Society in Federal B Area.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah expressed grief over the situation and instructed the Inspector General Sindh to conduct transparent and impartial investigation into the killings.

In response, IG Sindh has sought report from Additional IG Shahid Hayat who has constituted an inquiry committee to investigate into the killings of four men.