DarkTimes - 24Hr Global News Blog

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Life paralysed in Pindi, Islamabad

0 comments By Faraz Nizamani

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI, Dec 28: Social and economic life in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and the nearby cities of Chakwal, Jhelum, Gujar Khan, Fateh Jang, Taxila, Wah and Attock remained paralysed on the first day of three-day mourning on Friday over former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination.The complete shutter down was rare and never seen in the recent history of the country as the nation from Khyber to Karachi was in a state of shock over Ms Bhutto's assassination.In Islamabad and Rawalpindi, almost all major and small business centres and markets remained closed with no public transport on the road, causing hardships to people. The federal capital was presenting a deserted look. Government offices and markets were closed and traffic on the road was thin.Protesters burnt tyres at different road crossings in the two cities, including Aabpara Market, Jinnah Avenue, Peshawar More, Karachi Company, Barakahu, Faizabad, Stadium Road, 6th Road, Rehmanabad, Chandni Chowk, Committee Chowk, Marrir Chowk, many areas in Saddar, Ratta Amral, Fowwara Chowk and Lal Kurti.In Islamabad, Aabpara Market, Super Market, Jinnah Super Market, Karachi Company Market, F-10 Markaz, F-8 Markaz, F-11 Markaz, G-10, G-11 Markaz and all I&T Centres remained closed. It was for the first time that even the retail business remained suspended for the whole day.Long queues of people were seen at wagon stops and bays where they waited for hours to get cabs to reach different destinations. Taking advantage of the situation, taxi drivers charged higher fares.Roads and streets in Rawalpindi were deserted, except for thin movement of private vehicles and ambulances. The usually bustling Murree Road looked deserted. Public transport was not available and employees of essential services agencies had to walk kilometres to reach their duty stations. Drug stores, private clinics, grocery stores, bakeries, hotels and restaurants, fruits and vegetable vendors, petrol pumps and CNG stations were also closed, as were shopping malls, shops and business centres and academic institutes.Marriage and other social ceremonies planned for Friday and the next two days have been cancelled.Banners of candidates of different political parties, particularly of the PML-Q, were removed from the Murree Road, Rawalpindi cantonment and other areas. Several election offices of the PML-Q were burnt by protestors.In a statement, the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the business community stood by the nation in the hour of grief and condemned the assassination of Ms Bhutto.Our Reporter Mudassir Raja adds: The closure of petrol pumps and gas stations in Rawalpindi affected patients the most because they could not be taken to hospitals. Those who somehow managed to reach hospitals found it difficult to return home.A young man, Mohammad Nadeem, was seen asking a motorcyclist to take his mother to Sadiqabad because she could not walk due to pain in her knees but the biker told him that he had no petrol and walked away with his motorcycle.In some areas, petrol and diesel were sold in the black market at higher rates.There was no business activity in Raja Bazaar, Banni area, Saidpur Road, Murree Road, Sadiqabad, Naz Cinema, Dhoke Khabba, Arian Mohalla and other areas.Our Reporter Marium Kiani has this detail: Mr Rehan of Satellite Town told Dawn: “I went to meet some relative at Askari-VII on Thursday evening; coming home cost me Rs500 because there was no public vehicle available and the taxi I got after a long wait charged me higher.”“We are not getting out of homes because it's risky,” said Haleema, a university student.

Countrywide protests, killings and arson

0 comments By Faraz Nizamani

ISLAMABAD: At least 27 people were killed and many wounded in violence during a nationwide outpouring of grief and a protest strike over Benazir Bhutto’s assassination while army was deployed in 16 districts of Sindh and paramilitary forces elsewhere in the country.A complete general strike and funeral prayer congregations in all the country’s four provinces, Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas marked the day as the former prime minister, killed in an unidentified assassin’s gun-and-bomb attack in Rawalpindi on Thursday, was buried beside her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at their ancestral Garhi Khuda Bux village.But protests at several places turned violent, with demonstrators attacking and burning both public and private properties, mostly in Sindh where 17 people were reported killed in Karachi and 10 in eight towns in other parts of the province.An army statement in Rawalpindi said the troops had been deployed in 16 Sindh districts, including Karachi, on the requisition of the provincial government, to assist the local administration restore law and order.“Army authorities have been asked to coordinate law-enforcement action being conducted by police and (paramilitary) Rangers,” said the statement, quoting a spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate. “In case the situation goes out of hand of these agencies, army units will be employed to restore law and order.”It said the army had taken over security of “sensitive installations and national” assets in Karachi and other places in Sindh and that troops were patrolling in the troubled localities of Karachi, Larkana, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Thatta and Badin.SINDH: In Karachi, seven workers were burnt to death after a factory was set on fire. Two policemen were also killed. Hospitals received eight bodies with gunshot wounds. Over 400 vehicles and 18 banks were burnt in the city since Thursday night.In other parts of Sindh, incidents of violence completely paralysed civic life on second day of mourning with 10 people killed and around two dozens injured.Two deaths each were reported from Jacobabad and Thatta and one each from Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Badin, Matiari, Tando Allahyar and Khairpur.Government properties, banks, private vehicles, gas and petrol stations, telephone exchanges were prime targets of attackers in every district.The bungalow of former Sindh chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who a family member said, had gone to Saudi Arabia for “Umra pilgrimage” on Thursday night, was torched in G.M.B. Colony in Qasimabad.ISLAMABAD: Protests in Islamabad largely remained peaceful but students of the Quaid-i-Azam University burnt a bus of their own institution.PUNJAB: In the cities and towns of Punjab, protesters became violent in several towns, burning property and election campaign banners of candidates belonging to the formerly ruling Pakistan Muslim League.Sargodha witnessed constant clashes between police and protesters for hours, according to the Online news agency.In Attock district, PPP activists set fire to posters and flags of a PML candidate for the National Assembly, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.Jaranwala also witnessed a rowdy day with protests, cases of arson and stoning of a Wapda building and a local school. Six police personnel were reported injured there.NWFP: In the NWFP, enraged protesters set a police post and railway station on fire at Taru Jabba, near Peshawar, snatched guns from police and also set ablaze two official motorcycles at the police post.The police post was set on fire after police reportedly fired in the air to disperse the crowd.The protesters set ablaze at least three vehicles and a motorbike in other areas and an office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement at Peshawar’s Nishtarabad Chowk and the PML provincial office at Gulbahar locality.BALOCHISTAN: In Balochistan, a railway station, several banks and other public and private buildings were set on fire as riots erupted in some areas of the province.At least four policemen were injured in attacks on police posts while Quetta remained cut off by rail as Pakistan Railways cancelled all outgoing trains while passenger trains that had left on Thursday evening for Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi were stopped at Sibi railway station and returned to Quetta on Friday morning.Jaffarabad district administration called out Frontier Corps personnel to control the law and order situation.In Turbat, police arrested 15 PPP workers for forcibly closing shops.But the overall law and order situation in the province remained under control after the government deployed extra personnel of police, the Balochistan Constabulary and Frontier Corps in Quetta and other areas.However, at least three banks were burnt down in Dera Allahyar, a town neighbouring Sindh, where PPP workers and supporters took over roads at around 9am and blocked the highway between Balochistan and Sindh.The protesters also attacked and set on fire branches of three banks. According to reports, currency notes worth several millions of rupees and all record were burnt.Sources said a group of protesters attacked Dera Allahyar railway station and torched it. They also burnt down the office of Nadra, the district office of Excise and Taxation and PML election office and attacked a bank branch, the office of District Police Officer and Civil Hospital but law-enforcement agencies did not allow them to enter these buildings.Riots were also reported in Dera Murad Jamali where protesters burnt a bank branch and destroyed the official vehicle of a senior police officer.Protesters also attacked police posts in Dera Allahyar and beat up policemen, four of whom were injured.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Protesters go on rampage 10 killed, 150 vehicles torched in Karachi

0 comments By Faraz Nizamani

KARACHI: The death of Benazir Bhutto engulfed Karachi in unprecedented violence that claimed the ten lives and led to the torching of more than 150 vehicles, burning of banks, petrol pumps, a hospital, houses and factories.

The police, who along with the Rangers were largely missing from most of the affected areas during the first four hours of the turmoil, claimed that they had rounded up more than 30 people involved in the violence.

Observers said that the law-enforcement agencies provided ample opportunity to miscreants to plunder and damage public property. Also, it was noted that most of the violence was carried out by criminal elements who might not have any affiliation with political parties. “The pattern of ransacking and looting shows the involvement of criminal elements,” said an observer familiar with security issues. He said that the absence of law-enforcement agencies emboldened the criminal elements.

As a result, one of the posh areas of the city Zamzama was ransacked by unidentified people who looted showrooms, shops and boutiques. Within minutes of the breaking of the news of the death of PPP chairperson, enraged crowds went on the rampage, indiscriminately burning cars, motorcycles, fire tenders and banks, plunging the whole city into a state of lawlessness and anarchy that was seldom seen before.

Unidentified men killed three persons in Sohrab Goth, two at Lasbella Chowk, one each near the Shamama Shopping Center close to Safari Park, near the RCD Highway, in Gulshan-i-Hadeed, in Malir and Ranchore Lane. On the whole, more than 65 persons were injured in firing by the miscreants.

Gun toting people came out on the roads and got the shops closed. Indiscriminate firing frightened the people who started rushing towards their homes. This led to massive traffic jams throughout the city. People got stranded on roads for hours altogether and could hardly reach their homes.

Two banks and one hotel were looted in Block-7, Gulistan-i-Jauhar. After committing the offence, the accused torched the banks and fled. An angry mob came out of the Pehlwan Goth area and damaged the police post situated near the Rabia City, Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Near the Civic Center, about 20 vehicles were torched. In Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block-3, a house No-309/1 was burnt.

In several areas, residents said that some persons riding on motorcycles and cars came and threatened them to switch off their lights or face the consequences. People living near the Disco Bakery, Banaras and Patel Para spoke about visits by such people.

A building was torched near Ghas Mandi, a shop was burnt in Napier and petrol pumps in Sachal, Sohrab Goth, Jamshed Town and Gulshan Town. Also burnt was one wagon in Azeempura, one car in Darakhshan, and forty vehicles packed in the traffic mess near the Punjab Chowrangi, Clifton.

In Orangi Town, seven vehicles were torched, in Malir two vehicles were burnt, in Liaquatabad miscreants torched scores of cars, buses, mini-buses, motorcycles, rickshaws parked from Essa Nagri to Baloch Hotel.

An Edhi spokesman said that more than 30 vehicles were damaged in various parts of the city and two ambulances were hijacked from Lyari. In a separate incident in Lyari, angry protesters damaged the Chakiwara, Kalakot and Baghdadi police stations, burnt one petrol pump, torched tires on the streets and carried out aerial firing.

They also burnt a factory in Lyari and there were reports that some workers were present in the factory when it was put on fire. Another factory was torched in Korangi. Chief Fire Officer Ehtesham said that four fire stations at Civic Center, Landhi, Lyari and Korangi were damaged when miscreants sprayed bullets on it and three fire tenders were smashed.

The Keamari Town Nazim office was torched, miscreants attacked the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station, damaged the Mauripur Traffic Section and the Gulshan-i-Iqbal Traffic Section. A Steel Mills bus was torched in Gulshan-i-Hadeed. Police officials were injured in New Town and Gulistan-i-Jauhar police limits.

A group of miscreants came from Kala Pull side and attacked the National Hospital and torched 11 vehicles parked in the parking lot and later attacked the hospital, looted valuables and cash and torched the hospital building.

Six injured were shifted to Civil Hospital, Karachi, including Imran from Baldia, Faizan from Al-Mumtaz Society while the others remained unidentified. There were also reports of armed gangs looting houses.

All petrol pumps of the city were closed and several vehicles were parked on roadsides because of shortage of fuel and gas. Some other areas where tires were burnt were Lyari, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Malir, Sohrab Goth, Gulshan, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Malir, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Peerabad, Landhi, Korangi and Bin Qasim.

The uncontrolled protestors put the Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station on fire. Four Chinese engineers got stranded in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area and sought refuge at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station. They were later safely evacuated from there.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of employees of various companies, corporate houses and shops were stranded when public transport disappeared from the city’s main arteries. These people were seen walking on roads for hours to reach their homes. On the other hand, thousands of employees were forced to stay back at their offices or took refuge with their friends and relatives.

When contacted, the Capital City Police Officer, Karachi, Azhar Ali Farooqi, claimed that as soon as he heard about the blast, he ordered high alert in the city and directed the Karachi police to carry out maximum patrolling in their respective towns.

He also directed the DIGs of three zones, SPs and SPOs of various towns of the city to remain alert. CCPO Farooqi added that late Thursday night, the situation was under control and the police had rounded up more than 30 criminals involved in creating violence and damaging public and private property.

He said eight were held from the New Town police limits, when miscreants were robbing a private bank. The SHO New Town saved the bank but was injured in firing. Another ASI was injured in Gulistan-i-Jauhar while resisting the law breakers.

CCPO added that the Reserve Police were also on alert and Rangers were also working with the police. He directed maximum patrolling in the city.

Benazir’s dead body being taken to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh for burial

0 comments By Faraz Nizamani

SUKKUR: Dead body of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is being taken to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh for burial.

Her dead body was brought by a C-130 flight to Sukkur Airport from where it was taken to Moenjodaro by helicopter.

Along with the dead body of Benazir Bhutto, her husband Asif Ali Zardari, elder daughter Bakhtawar, younger daughter Asifa, son Bilawal, central leader of the PPP Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Shery Rehman and other persons arrived in Sukkur.

Here, her corps was shifted to an army helicopter and taken to Larkana. Her dead body, her husband Asif Ali Zardari, all three children, Amin Fahim, Shery Rehman and other 22 persons were taken to Larkana by a bus along with police security.

The helicopter left Sukkur for Moenjodaro Airport at 3-40 am.

The dead body will be taken from the Moenjodaro Airport to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh by ambulance.

Various groups are reaching Garhi Khuda Bakhsh from all over the country to attend the burial of benazir Bhutto.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Reaction of the Nation to the Death Of Benazir Bhutto

0 comments By Faraz Nizamani

Pakistan is in state of emergency. People are terribly hurt due to Benazir's Death. All the markets were immediately closed after the news of her death. Here are some of the incidents occured due to her death: