Senators Babar Khan Ghauri and Colonel Tahir Mashhadi (Retd) of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) have strongly condemned the distribution of extortion slips to the shopkeepers of Marble Market in Pak Colony. The senators demanded immediate notice of the disquiet and restlessness among the shopkeepers and traders of the area.
In a joint statement, the senators said that the extortion slips had been distributed by the terrorists of the gang war who caused panic in the area by firing indiscriminately with latest automatic weapons. The terrorists forced the shopkeepers to close their business if they did not pay the extortion money.
The senators said that the shopkeepers were forced to shut their businesses even in the holy month of Ramazan. They said that the situation has come to a pass where the terrorists and criminal elements of the gang war had started killing businessmen and shopkeepers who refused to pay the extortion money. This had put a big question mark over the performance of police.
The senators said that the brazen way in which the terrorists were operating had made it abundantly clear that they enjoyed patronage of certain powerful elements. They said that it was because of this patronage that no action was being taken against the extortion mafia despite protests by traders and the business community.
The senators appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Provincial Home Minister Manzoor Wassan ensure that the distribution of extortion slips in the old city area of Karachi is stopped.-PR