• MWM spokesperson claims police resorted to tear gas shelling and baton-charge at 10 places of the city

KARACHI: At least 11 people, including six cops, were injured on Tuesday when Karachi police attempted to disperse sit-ins being staged across the city against the Parachinar situation.

MWM spokesperson Syed Ali Ahmer Zaidi alleged that the police resorted to tear gas shelling and baton-charge at “10 places — including Abbas Town, Power House and Kamran Chowrangi” — and got the roads cleared.

He said that the sit-ins were going on at three locations – Numaish Chowrangi, Ancholi and Rizvia Society. He criticised what he called “state tyranny against peaceful protesters”.

Violence also erupted on main National Highway in Malir where police and protesters clashed, resulting in injuries to several policemen and protesters.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said that four injured people, including one in critical condition with a bullet wound to the head, were brought to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre from Malir.

She also said three policemen from Malir with injuries caused by hard and blunt instruments were also brought. The police surgeon further said that three policemen were injured in clashes with the protesters at Numaish Chowrangi, two constables and the Pak Colony station house officer, and were also brought for treatment.

Dr Summaiya said one person with a gunshot injury on his left arm was brought from Numaish Chowrangi to Civil Hospital Karachi.

According to Malir Superintendent of Police (SP) Saeed Rind, the protesters blocked the highway at Malir-15 at night. He said when the police took action to get the highway vacated; the protestors who were armed allegedly resorted to “straight firing”, resulting in bullet injuries to two policemen.

He said the police resorted to tear gas shelling and dispersed the protesters who fled towards streets. The Malir SP refuted charges of the protesters that the police resorted to firing on them, saying that only tear gas shelling was used.

Meanwhile, the MWM spokesperson in a statement said that the “police resorted to straight firing on participants of the sit-in in Malir, resulting in bullet injuries to nine persons including two in critical condition.”

The spokesperson said they would not be deterred by bullets and threats and a large number of people had again started gathering at Numaish Chowrangi while an emergent meeting of the MWM was underway to chalk out future course of action.

MWM Information Secretary Asif Safvi condemned the alleged heavy firing and shelling by police and security forces on protesters at Numaish Chowrangi. He also condemned alleged violence on senior religious scholar Allama Hassan Zafar Naqvi by paramilitary forces, “who failed to open the roads in Parachinar”.

Safvi maintained that the protest “will continue in any case”.

“The Sindh government has used force. We will fight state oppression,” he said. He added that dozens of protesters were injured by police brutality at Numaish Chowrangi and condemned the arrest of Allama Naqvi.

“The government and some black sheep are conspiring to create communal riots in the city,” he said. “Banned sectarian groups are being given free rein on the streets as part of a conspiracy to suppress the demands of the public.”

He called on the Sindh government to stop brutality against innocent civilians, adding that protesting is the right of every citizen.

He also called on PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and President Asif Ali Zardari to take notice of the “state oppression” by the Sindh government.

MWM leader Allama Mukhtar Emami held Sindh Chief Minster Murad Ali Shah and Bilawal responsible for the attack on Naqvi, who was allegedly kicked and punched.

“The FIR for the murderous attack on Naqvi will be registered against Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah,” he said and reiterated that the protests in solidarity with the protesters in Parachinar would continue.

“The PPP government has revived the memory of the Zia era,” the MWM leader said. “The Sindh government has proved that it is not with the oppressed but with the oppressors.”

Earlier today, CM Shah confirmed that “administrative action” was taken against protesters at some locations to get the roads cleared and reopened for traffic.

The city police chief had claimed that the blocked roads in the metropolis would be cleared of protests by yesterday evening, clarifying later that he meant they would be organised in a way that does not disrupt the traffic flow.

Subsequently, Allama Naqvi asked protesters to keep one track open of the roads where sit-ins were being held for the smooth flow of traffic. However, he made it clear that these sit-ins would continue until the blocked roads in Kurram were reopened.

A spokesperson for the MWM had stated that the sit-in on the main Sharea Faisal near Natha Khan Bridge had been ended to facilitate people’s movement.

Earlier in the day, several roads in Karachi were reopened for traffic as the sit-ins eased after police warnings. The roads at six different locations — out of 13 where they were being held yesterday — had been reopened for vehicles after the protests ended, according to a traffic update shared by the Karachi Traffic Police.

The six locations that were cleared for traffic included Jauhar Mor heading to Jauhar Chowrangi; Five Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad; Shamsuddin Azeemi Road towards KDA Flats in Surjani Town; Nawab Siddique Ali Khan Road in Nazimabad-1 going towards Nazimabad-2; and Ancholi and Ayesha Manzil on Shahrah-i-Pakistan.

However, the traffic police said the protests continued at four different points across the city.

At Abbas Town in District Malir, both tracks of Abul Hasan Ispahani Road towards Superhighway remained closed, where diversions have been provided for traffic from Paradise Bakery to Fariya Chowk and inside streets and from Rangers’ Cut to a service lane heading to Punjab Adda (bus stand).

In District East, the M.A. Jinnah Road near Numaish Chowrangi remained closed where alternative diversions from Capri Cinema to Soldier Bazaar and Saddar Dawa Khana have been provided.