• Several suffer bullet wounds in Malir
• MWM sit-ins on four places continue
• ASWJ stages counter-protests at 14 locations
• Murad says govt ready to sit with protest organisers if they want talks

KARACHI: Pitched battles between police and groups of youth broke out on multiple spots in the city on Tuesday as law enforcers fired tear gas to remove protesters staging sit-ins on the call of the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) against the blockade and killings in Parachinar.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told reporters during the day that “an administrative action” was launched at 8am on Tuesday during which the sit-ins at eight locations had been removed because they were “causing inconveniences to the people”.

Initially, the police did not face resistance when they dismantled tents and dispersed protesters at around half a dozen locations in the city.

However, they used force at Abbas Town, Numaish and Malir 15 to clear Abul Hasan Ispahani Road, M. A. Jinnah Road and the National Highway.

By Tuesday night, protesters returned to Numaish and Abbas Town to resume their sit-in, while a clash between police and agitators in Malir 15 resulted in bullet injuries to four protesters and two policemen.

Malir SP Saeed Rind told Dawn that the protestors blocked the National Highway at Malir-15 and when the police took action some of them resorted to firing causing injuries to two policemen.

The MWM condemned the police action and claimed that its over two dozen workers were picked up by law enforcers. The party held the Sindh CM responsible for what it called “police brutality”.

MWM spokesperson Syed Ali Ahmer Naqvi told Dawn that in the morning the police fired tear gas shells and baton charged protesters at 10 places, including Abbas Town and forcefully ended their sit-ins.

‘Police tried all means to peacefully end protests’

Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon told Dawn that police made all-out efforts to resolve the issue of sit-ins “peacefully”.

He said the Sindh government also made concerted efforts by sending delegations to the organisers for resolving it peacefully.

He said the sit-ins had resulted in serious problems for smooth flow of traffic, causing inconvenience to a large number of citizens.

“Ultimately, the police took an action today during which almost all roads, barring one or two places, were cleared for traffic,” he told Dawn, before the clashes in Malir began.

Regarding the police action at Numaish, the IGP said two police officers were injured and the protesters had also torched some police motorcycles. He said the police had made ‘some arrests’.

‘MWM leader hurt’

The MWM spokesperson in a statement claimed that the law enforcers manhandled the elderly scholar, Allama Syed Hasan Zafar Naqvi, at Numaish.

The spokesperson vowed to continue the protest.

He alleged that the Sindh government had used ‘state force’, causing injuries to “dozens of protesters” at Numaish.

The MWM alleged that the government and certain ‘black sheep’ were conspiring to trigger sectarian violence in Karachi by allowing “outlawed groups” to stage protests on main roads.

Allama Mukthar Imami of the party claimed that “an attempt on the life of Allama Hasan Zafar was made at Numaish” and he held the chief minister and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari responsible for it.

“Under orders of the CM, shelling and lathi-charge were carried out against peaceful participants, including women and children, of sit-ins” he said and vowed to continue the protest in support of the victims of Parachinar.

Govt ready to give permission

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah while talking to media at Hub said that Parachinar was facing an issue of “human tragedy” where the people were dying due to shortage of food and medicines.

He recalled that initially the organisers of the sit-ins had informed them (authorities) that they would hold a peaceful sit-in at Numaish only.

Later on, they increased the number of sit-ins and started blocking smooth flow of traffic, the chief minister said.

“This issue belongs to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and its solution may be found there,” opined Mr Murad, adding that the Sindh government was providing medicines to them.

“After 8am on Tuesday we took an administrative action and got eight sit-ins out of 12 sit-ins ended,” he said, adding: “There may be ‘chaos’ but we do not intend to cause any difficulty to anyone.

He said that if the organisers wanted to talks, the Sindh government was ready to sit with them but they should not cause any difficulty to citizens.

“The Sindh government is willing and ready to give permission for a peaceful protest,” said the CM, adding that “if people would face any difficulty, then the government would take action to rectify the situation.”

Traffic chaos in city

Meanwhile, citizens continued to endure traffic jams on most city roads on Tuesday while the banned Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) also started counter-protest sit-ins at several places.

In a statement, ASWJ said they staged sit-ins at 60 places in Karachi, demanding military operation in Parachinar and provision of compensation to the heirs of the victims and damages to the property there.

Despite the police action, several roads remained closed for traffic at 18 places in the city on Tuesday evening because of protest sit-ins of the MWM and ASWJ.

A traffic police spokesperson confirmed that by 8:30pm as many as 18 placed were closed for vehicular traffic “due to protests of religious parties”.

Protesters belonging to the MWM blocked Abul Hasan Ispahani Road, Nawab Siddiq Ali Khan Road Chowrangi in Nazimabad, Kamran Chowrangi, Numaish and Sharah-i-Pakistan at Ancholi to stage sit-ins.

The ASWJ blocked the main Manghopir Road at Habib Bank Chowrangi, Business Recorder Road, Gulbai, Sharea Faisal’s service road near Baloch Colony, Sharah-i-Liaquat near Fresco Chowk, main University Road near Safoora, Nagan Chowrangi bus stop, Sharah-i-Orangi near Metro, Quaidabad towards Malir and Tower Chowk near Jilani Centre.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2025