KARACHI, April 20: With the election campaign by political parties yet to gain momentum amid fears, an election camp and an office of two parties were set on fire on Saturday further adversely affecting the electioneering pace and raising security concerns among contesting candidates, officials and party sources said.

In the early hours of the day, an election camp of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in Sector 11-E near UP Mor was ransacked before being set on fire.

“The suspects ran away after executing the job,” said a police officer. “Area people and party workers said the miscreants also fired shots into the air though we did not find any sign. More police force has been deployed in the affected part of the area.”

As the police expressed ignorance about the people and their motive for the arson attack, the PTI leaders said undemocratic forces wanted to keep their party from election campaigning mainly in Karachi.

“We know very well and have the capacity to respond to such cowardly acts,” said Jamal Siddiq, the PTI media coordinator. “But we believe in democratic norms which demand policy of co-existence. The camp set on fire was actually a part of PTI Tabdeeli Razakar Camp (camp of volunteers for change) and a large number of Karachi youngsters are turning up at these camps to contribute for the change approaching.”

In every Karachi town, he said, the PTI had set up at least two such camps where it had registered hundreds of youngsters for “being a part of change”. He ruled out any review in the strategy after the arson attack.

“Our morale is high and we are determined to continue our peaceful struggle, which has received enormous response from Karachiites. We are not removing any camp in any part of the city,” said Mr Siddiqi.

While the police were yet to register an FIR of the attack, the ‘miscreants’ struck again and this time a Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) election camp in Nazimabad was the target.

“Early in the morning the JI election office in Nazimabad No 2 was attacked when no one was there,” said SSP central Amir Farooqi. “The miscreants ransacked the office and also tried to set it on fire. The camp office was set up temporarily in a shop that was once used as a barber’s shop. The police are busy assessing loss before registering the case,” the SSP said.

In a statement, the JI condemned the incident and said the caretaker administration seemed powerless to maintain law and order in the city. The situation had raised doubts over peace on polling day, the party said, seeking immediate arrest of the ‘miscreants’.

“The attack on the JI election office for PS-104 exposes the seriousness and capability of our security administration,” said the party statement.

It added that JI workers were calm despite a serious threat to their lives considering past experience of electioneering in Karachi but they enjoyed every right to protest and expose the biasness of the caretaker set-up.

With fears looming over the city amid threats of banned outfits to attack parties contesting polls, back-to-back attacks on election offices of the political parties apparently on political grounds emerged as another challenge for the law-enforcement agencies before the May 11 elections.

The killing of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) candidate for the Sindh Assembly in Hyderabad and Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) covering candidate in Karachi’s Orangi Town earlier this month coupled with an attack on a school owned by an Awami National Party leader in Baldia Town that claimed his life reflect the level of threat that was already there before fresh incidents of arson attacks.

“Security is definitely an issue,” said SSP Farooqi.

“We have asked the parties to at least inform the area police before setting up an election office or camp. We can only manage security when we are aware of such spots. In case of JI office we were not taken in the loop neither the party leaders informed the area police about any office in that locality.”