Tuesday, Jun 17, 2014
Karachi: Hundreds of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) supporters and workers, including women and children, Tuesday blocked a road in the city whereas Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) called a countrywide day of mourning to protest the killing of eight supporters and workers.
The women, children and men staged a sit-in at the M.R. Kiani Road opposite Karachi Press Club, waving PAT flags and playing party songs in scorching heat to protest the killings in Lahore.
In the eastern city of Lahore, at least eight people were killed on Tuesday when Pakistani police clashed with the activists of PAT who were protesting outside the party headquarters. Two women were among the dead.
The PAT activists gathered in Lahore ahead of arrival of Maulana Tahirul Qadri, the PAT chief who lives in Canada but was due to come back to Pakistan on June 23, challenging the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Qadri has strong public following in the largest Punjab province of Pakistan where he runs a seminary.
MQM has been an ally of the PAT and has supported the Qadri arrival to Pakistan. Qadri intended to launch a political campaign against the government of Sharif whereas the government has warned that he would be arrested on his arrival.
The Tuesday killings, however jolted the people as it was one of the rare incidents when police opened fire on a protesting rally in Pakistan. The previous incident was the political upheaval of 1977 when the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was trying to suppress an opposition party alliance.
The Coordination Committee of MQM said in a statement that the party would observe a day of mourning on Wednesday over the martyrdom of the Qadri’s party workers, who had died because of police brutality in Lahore.
The committee made an appeal to businessmen, industrialists, shop owners and transports to observe the mourning to express solidarity with the families of the martyrs and workers.
The core committee of the party also condemned the police raid on the secretariat of the Minahajul Quran, Qadri’s seminary, and the brutal police torture on the workers of the party.
By Mohammad Ashraf?Correspondent
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
