At least four people were killed and over a dozen injured in different violent incidents in the city amid Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz's (JSQM) strike call here on Wednesday. Four vehicles were also set on fire by unknown miscreants in different areas of the city. The strike call was given by JSQM against the initial findings of Bashir Qureshi's post-mortem report declaring his death as natural, which was rejected by his family and party.
According to police, an activist of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was shot dead in Ajmir Nagri police station's remits. The victim, who was identified as Rashid Baig, 25, son of Ahmed Baig, was shot and injured outside his residence in North Karachi. He was taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi (CHK) where he succumbed to his injuries.
President PPP District Central, Sohail Abidi, said the victim was a worker of PPP, saying that the victim's brother Amir Baig was also an active worker of PPP's People's Youth PS-98. In Rizvia, at least four people including two women were wounded when unidentified persons resorted to indiscriminate firing in Baloch Para locality. The victims were identified as Waheed, 30, Farid, 22, Shahnaz, 35 and Khairunnisa, 50. They were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH). Police said the motive behind the incident was yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile, a young man identified as Zahid Gul, 27, received bullet wounds during a clash between two groups near Micasa Apartment in PIB Colony police remits. Police said the clash took place between two Pashtun groups wherein a member of one of the groups was injured.
A body of man stuffed in a gunny bag was found from Labour Square in the limits of Site B police station. The identity of victim was yet to be ascertained. SHO Shafiq Tanoli said the victim, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, had torture marks on the body. The body was shifted to CHK and later moved to Edhi Morgue. A case was registered against unidentified men on the complaint of state.
An activist of JSQM was killed and his associate sustained injures when workers of the rival group assaulted them in Khadda Market Lyari. Police said the victim Ghulam Husain, 29, succumbed to his wounds at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) during treatment while his associate Waqas alias Naqash 25, was in critical condition.
Police said Ghulam Husain, who was an office bearer of the party and gunman of JSQM late chairman Bashir Qureshi, was the resident of Khadda Market. They said the clash ensued when JSQM workers forced the shopkeepers to suspend all commercial activities and resorted to heavy gunshots that injured three persons including two seminary students.
Similar incident of forcible closure of shops was reported in the limits of the Kalakot police station where at least three girls sustained injures. Police said the victims, who were identified as Atiya, 8, Shaheen, 7, and Sara, 22, injured when they were travelling in a rickshaw.
SSP South Nasir Aftab said that it was not clear if they were targeted or they were caught in cross fire. The wounded girls were rushed to CHK for treatment. He said heavy contingents of police along with FC personals conducted raids in Jokhio Para and detained five rioters involved in Khadda Market violence.
In another incident, two armed men opened indiscriminate gunshots on passengers of Shiraz Coach, when the coach reached at Maripur Road near Dua Hotel. Resultantly, two passengers Noor Shah and Muhammad Abdullah sustained bullet wounds. Following the shooting, miscreants set the coach and a truck parked nearby on fire. Earlier, miscreants burnt two minibuses at Bakhtawar Goth and Safoora Goth.
Meanwhile, Rangers in co-ordination with police conducted targeted operation in different areas including Keamari Town, Hussain Hazara Goth, Hijrat Colony, Baloch Para in Jamshed Town and Nazimabad and detained 12 suspects by recovering 18 weapons of different caliber from their possession.