Karachi News


DAWN/The News International, KARACHI	3 May 2004, Monday, 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

www.karachipage.com (click on underlined key-words/dates to get more details)
Armed clashes fears mount as electioneering gains momentum
Power riots break out in Nazimabad
Bengali-speaking Pakistanis not aliens, Nara told
Reckless driving claims six lives
Gas pipeline blown: Supply to parts of Sindh, Punjab suspended for 7 hours
9 slain by police were not outlaws, say villagers
142 cases of torture reported after enforcement of Police Order, 2002
Poor law, order situation hits tourism in NAs
Islamic conference condemns terrorist attacks
Guantanamo prisoners: largest group from Karachi
Armed clashes fears mount as electioneering gains momentum
KARACHI: As the May 12 date for the by-election in Karachi approaches, law-enforcement agencies are taking all-out measures to avoid any untoward incident during the election process. This comes in the wake of the warnings by the security officials of clashes between the workers of two rival parties - Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).
The by-election would be held in Karachi on May 12 to three NA seats (NA-240, NA-243 and NA-246). Even though both MMA and Muttahida had started their election campaign, no major incident of violence was reported from any part of the city .
Well-informed sources said as the electioneering gained momentum, the situation might turn violent, as the environment in the city was very tense. They feared armed clashes between the Muttahida and the MMA activists keeping in view some scuffles between the workers of both parties on matters of hoisting party flags and installing banners and posters.
The sources said that both parties-the MMA and the Muttahida-were reportedly using the machinery of the city government and the provincial government respectively in their rallies, public meetings, and other election-related matters.
It is learnt that the sleuths of security agencies have warned the federal government that a law and order situation might be manipulated in the metropolis and suggested that the government take precautionary measures.
The sources said the Sindh police, with the help of the Rangers, was chalking out a contingency plan for the holding of peaceful elections and to cope with any untoward incident that may spring up.
This correspondent was informed that the federal government directed the law enforcement agencies to ensure full implementation on a ban on carrying and display of weapons in the province. "We are directed to take stern
action against violators of this ban, irrespective of their political
affiliation," he added.
Power riots break out in Nazimabad
KARACHI, May 2: Power riots broke out in Nazimabad and Gulbahar in the early hours of Sunday as enraged residents took to the streets and threw stones at the regional complaint centre of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation.

Police said the irate residents, protesting against a prolonged power breakdown in their locality, tried to storm the KESC complaint centre. They added that they had dispersed the protesters, who had assembled on Nawab Siddiq Ali Khan Road.

However, a spokesman for the KESC said he did not know if power riots had broken out in Nazimabad and Gulbahar. He added that it was not clear if a power breakdown had at all occurred in these localities.

The KESC spokesman pointed out that the main road in Nazimabad was lined with the Rabi-ul-Awwal illuminations. A resident of Soldier Bazaar No 1 told Dawn that power supply to his locality, which had an electricity breakdown following severing of KESC wires in the early hours of Saturday, was finally restored on Sunday afternoon.

"The telephone attendant at the regional complaint centre did not only refuse to register my complaint against the power breakdown but also misbehaved. The attendant made clear that no action would be taken against him if the area remained without electricity for hours," the resident said.

However, the KESC spokesman said that he was informed by his colleagues that the power supply to Soldier Bazaar No 1 and its adjoining localities had been restored on Saturday night.

A resident of Federal B Area, Block 17, said his locality remained without electricity for a couple of hours the previous night. "With temperature rising to 39, it is difficult to spend any part of the day without electricity.

I was hoping to catch a good night's sleep after a tiring week, but the power breakdown did not allow me and my family to sleep in peace." he recalled. A resident from Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block 10, said that power supply went out at 5.30pm and did not return till the filing of the report late in the night.

He said a similar prolonged breakdown was witnessed on Saturday in Blocks 4 and 10 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar. Other areas that remained without electricity on Sunday included Nazimabad, Federal B Area, Clifton, Golimar, Lyari and Kharadar.

Bengali-speaking Pakistanis not aliens, Nara told

RAWALPINDI: The Bengali-speaking Pakistanis are being harassed and humiliated by the National Alien Registration Authority (Nara).

Leaders of Pak Muslim Alliance said this while talking to The News here on Sunday. They said more than a million Bengali-speaking Pakistanis have been settled in the country, particularly in Karachi and Sindh cities, since the early 1960s and 1970s.

They pointed out that all of these people were registered voters and had been playing very positive role in the political, economic and social life of the country. At present 84 of them are actively participating in the affairs of the country as elected councillors, Nazims and Naib Nazims. Most of their residences are spread all over Karachi in as many as 103 colonies in the Sindh metropolis.

The leaders said the members of community of Bengali-speaking Pakistanis were facing threats and arrests since the formation of Nara in the year 2001. The Sindh police usually arrest them in big number, take them to cells of special branch and release those who bribe while FIRs are lodged against others alleging them of staying in country illegally, the leaders said. They informed that the courts have given to most of the arrested people but the whole process is an unjustified torture on innocent people. The leaders further said that a majority of the Bengali-speaking Pakistanis are illiterate and work as labourers in different fields and could not be expected to preserve all the documents to show their loyalty, nor can they afford bribing the police.

The leaders pointed out that National Data Base and Registration Authority (Nadra) has abruptly stopped issuing computerised identity cards to the Bengali-speaking people on the instigation of the Nara, despite the fact that they possess the old identity cards.

The leaders asserted that the Bengali-speaking Pakistanis never accepted Bangladesh as their country. They have rather rendered great sacrifices for Pakistan during the 1971 war. They appealed to the President, the prime minister and the interior minister to order an end to Nara excesses, restart issuing Nadra computerised cards, and release the arrested members of their community.

The leaders of Pak Muslim Alliance, including President S M Farooq, General Secretary M S Alam, Central Vice-President Dr Sayeed and Treasurer Kamal Kaleemwala, plan to meet the prime minister and the interior minister to plead the case of the poor people who are Pakistanis but speak Bengali.

Reckless driving claims 6 lives

KARACHI: Reckless driving claimed six lives, including 3 children and a woman, while 5 persons and two policemen received bullet injuries in different incidents in the metropolis on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Naseer and Aamir Hussain, received bullets injuries when they quarrelled with some people over a petty dispute in Baghdadi police precinct. Police have registered a case against Sikander and others.

Ameeruddin Akber and his brother Sharifuddin Akber received bullet wounds when they confronted unidentified gunmen, who had entered their residence in Surjani Town police limits.

POLICE ENCOUNTER: Two policemen and an alleged robber received bullets injuries when police opened fire on fleeing robbers in Chakiwara police jurisdiction.

Police told The News that police chased few robbers, who were fleeing after committing robbery at a petrol pump. The injured cops were identified as Bhai Khan and Abdur Razzak and the robber as Noor Ali, who were shifted to the Civil Hospital.

ARMS RECOVERED: The Baghdadi police claimed to have recovered arms from a locked house, situated at Aath Chowk. They recovered a Klashinikov, three TT pistols, two revolvers and two Russian-made crackers.

VEHICLES: At least 22 vehicles from stolen or hijacked from different city areas.

Gas pipeline blown: Supply to parts of Sindh, Punjab suspended for 7 hours

JACOABABAD: The 20-inch gas pipeline from Sui to Punjab was blown up in village Hajano, some 80 kms from Jacobabad, suspending gas supply to parts of Sindh and the Punjab on Sunday morning.

The explosion occurred in the jurisdiction of Tangwani police station of Taluka Kandhkot, destroying an eight-foot piece of the pipeline, owned by the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company Ltd (SNGPL). It also created a 20-foot deep crater in the ground.

Immediately after the blast, the gas supply was stopped from Shikarpur, which suspended the onward supply to Shikarpur, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan and DG Khan and other areas.

The blast spread panic in the area, forcing the people to stay inside their houses. Heavy contingents of police and Rangers reached the spot and cordoned off the areas.

Also a team of Sui Southern Gas Company arrived at the scene from Shikarpur and started the repair work. Gas supply to Kashmore, Kandhkot, Shikarpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad, and Rajanpur was restored from alternative pipeline after seven hours.

Deputy General Manager (Technical) of SSGC Ghazi Anwar Kerio told reporters that the repair work would be completed in 24 hours. Kerio said that it was an act of terrorism as the pipeline was blown up by a bomb. However, Taluka Police Officer Murtaza Mirani told The News by telephone that it was difficult to confirm any act of terrorism until Bomb Disposal Squad provide its report. No case has been registered till filling of this news.

AP adds from Karachi: No one was reported injured in the blast, said Inayatullah Ismail, a spokesman for the SSGC. Gas supply to cities in the central Punjab province was disrupted temporarily but was restored through another pipeline, Ismail said.

He said technicians were working to repair the damage and determine whether a bomb or technical malfunction had caused the blast. "This area is known for bomb explosions and rocket attacks on the pipeline," he said, suspecting local tribesmen seeking more compensation for gas extracted from their land might have sabotaged the facility.

9 slain by police were not outlaws, say villagers
SUKKUR/MULTAN, May 2: At the intervention of the Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly, Mr Shoukat Mazari, the Rajanpur police handed over to relatives the bodies of nine Mazari tribesmen who had been killed on Saturday in an exchange of fire between police and villagers in Bela Shah katcha area under the Bangla Achha police station near Sadiqabad.

Police had buried all the bodies saying nobody had come to claim them. However, people of the Mazari tribe said they had requested police to hand over the bodies.