A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police raid in Lyair in the wee hours of Friday led to outbreak of violence and violent protests in the locality that left at least seven people dead and dozen other injured. Enraged residents of Lyari took to streets when they came to know that the CID police raided the house of People's Aman Committee (PAC) chief Uzair Baoch.
Following the raid, protest and riots started in different areas of Lyari Town including Lee Market, Aath Chowk, Chakiwara, Shah Baig Lane, Cheel Chowk, Jodia Bazar, Baghdadi and others. Angry mob hurled grenades at police personnel near Napier Police Station in Lea Market area.
One Hanif was killed while his teen age daughter Afshan and a minor child were injured when a grenade was thrown on their home in Hass Posra Building in the limits of Nipier police station. A young man was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Miranaka in the jurisdiction of Chakiwara police station. A duty officer at the station said the deceased was identified as Hayat Gul, 25, son of Wahid Gul. The body and injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Karachi.
A man was gunned down by unknown armed men in Singolane area. The identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained. In another incident, a man, Baban, 28, was shot dead by unidentified attackers in Dhobigat area. Furthermore, the riots also claimed lives of two other persons, Yaseen, 40 and an unidentified man in the area of Bihar Colony.
In another incident, a young man, Zakir, was killed near Ath Chowk in the limits of Baghdadi Police Station. The intermittent firing incidents throughout the day rattled the whole area, which forced the shopkeepers to close their shops. Miscreants pelted stones at vehicles and blocked the roads leading to Lyari by burning tires and placing hurdles.
During the violence, some miscreants hurled two hand grenades at Eidgah Police Station, which resulted in injuries to three persons including a cop. Seven other persons were also injured during exchange of firing between miscreants and police in different parts of Lyari.
Some of the injured were identified as Abdullah, 25, Abid, 28, Arif, 25, Babar, 28 and Rajo, 15. Sania, a spokesman of PAC, told this scribe that a team of CID police raided the house of Uzair Baloch and harassed his family members when they did not find him at home.
SSP City Police told this scribe that following the CID raids some miscreants tried to create law and order situation in area, which forced the police to take action against them. He said that anti-social elements attacked police with hand grandees and rocket launchers due to which several people were injured.
Later, SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam told a press conference at Garden Headquarters that the law enforcing agencies were determined to clean up Lyari from criminal elements. He said the ringleader of Lyari gang war, Uzair Jan Baloch, would be arrested soon. Meanwhile, Chairman Friends of Lyari Habib Jan Baloch condemned the CID police raids in Layri, accusing it of deteriorating law and order situation in Lyari.
He appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan to constitute an impartial commission for conducting inquiry into the violent incidents in Lyari. People's Aman Committee (PAC) has also announced to observe mourning day on Saturday (today) against the killings in Lyari Due to the deteriorating law and order situation in Lyari, the Board of Secondary Education Karachi has postponed exams scheduled for Saturday in Lyari town.