HYDERABAD: Leaders of two major nationalist parties have condemned mob lynching of two telecom workers, who happened to be Sindhis, in Machhar Colony, Karachi, a day before and called for strict legal action against perpetrators of the violence and implementation of Supreme Court’s verdict in the Karachi lawlessness case.

Awami Tehreek central organiser Lal Jarwar and other party leaders said in a joint statement that rulers were responsible for the gruesome murder of the youths.

They said that terrorists had been given free reign to commit such inhuman acts while police and other law enforcement agencies were busy baton charging teachers.

They said that after MQM-PPP deal, Sindhi youths were being killed regularly in Karachi while PPP had allowed terrorists to go unpunished for the sake of power. The ruling party had bargained over rights of Sindhi people but Sindhi people would no more remain silent over the murders, they said.

They demanded the Sindh government should implement Supreme Court’s judgement it ahd handed down in Karachi lawlessness case. All terrorists should be rounded up and illegal immigrants should be expelled, he said.

They said that Saeed Ghani, Mustafa Kamal and Nabeel Gabol had held a press conference and released video statements when flood-hit people were arriving in the city. They had sown fear by claiming that criminals were reaching Karachi in the garb of flood-hit people and they would cause lawlessness, they said, adding the statements had humiliated Sindhi people.

The statements which were aimed at causing conflict between communities had actually translated into attacks on Sindhi people. If the SC verdict in Karachi lawlessness case had been implemented this bloodbath could have been averted, he said.

They alleged that federal and PPP governments were settling terrorists in Sindh.

Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) chairman Dr Qadir Magsi also slammed the killings in a statement and offered condolences to the bereaved families.

He said that such incidents occurred in society where hooliganism ruled supreme and rule of law was non-existent. It proved that Sindh government was totally inept and rulers were wholly responsible for it, he said.

He called for a detailed probe into the incident and said that the suspects, who were seen mercilessly beating the victims were clearly identifiable in the video and should be arrested immediately. The video had gone viral since then. Strict legal action should be taken in the case, he demanded.

Protest in Umerkot

A large number of people, among them teachers and journalists, staged a demonstration in Umerkot town on Saturday in protest against mob-lynching of two youths in Karachi and demanded exemplary punishment for the killers.

The protesters’ leaders Haji Ibrahim Bajeer, Nand Lal, Rasool Bux, Naheed Hussain

Khattak and others said that the mob killed the innocent employees of a cellular company in broad daylight, challenging the writ of the government. Why society was increasingly becoming intolerant, they asked.

They deplored that a state of fear was being created under a conspiracy to frighten Sindhis away from Karachi. The government should take immediate action against the killers, they said.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2022