PAKISTAN: Abduction and killing of three MQM workers sparks protest in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi

Record ID: 858801

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Abduction and killing of three MQM workers sparks protest in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi
  • Date: 5th June 2013
  • Summary: SECURITY NEAR CHIEF MINISTER'S HOUSE POLICEMEN STANDING GUN HELD BY POLICEMAN VARIOUS OF WOMEN CHANTING ANTI-GOVERNMENT SLOGANS WORKERS AND SUPPORTERS OF MUTTAHIDA QAUMI MOVEMENT (MQM) PARTY CARRYING COFFINS OUTSIDE CHIEF MINISTER'S HOUSE VARIOUS OF RELATIVE WOMEN CRYING AND WAILING AS COFFINS OF VICTIMS ARE PLACED ON GROUND PROTESTERS CHANTING "BLOOD WILL BRING REVOLUTION" SUPPORTERS, WHILE STAGING SIT-IN, CHANTING NAME OF MQM LEADER, ALTAF, WHO LIVES IN A SELF EXILE IN LONDON MQM LEADERS ADDRESSING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MQM LEADER AND A PROVINCIAL LAW MAKER, FAISAL SABZWARI, SAYING: "There is a sit-in going on with dead bodies of three of MQM deceased workers. They were kidnapped in early hours at Malir area of Karachi. All of them were identified as MQM people and then the gangsters of Liyari, they kidnapped them and later on killed them." PROTESTERS CHANTING "ALTAF, ALTAF"
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics:
  • Reuters ID: LVAE6078XF7WDD8ZQZFKKAH4O9CO
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  • Story Text: Unidentified gunmen abducted four people and later killed three of them, injuring the fourth man critically on the outskirts of Pakistan's biggest city Karachi on Wednesday (June 5).
    Police recovered three bullet-riddled bodies and one critically injured man from Jam Goth in the Malir area in the eastern part of Karachi.
    The four people had been kidnapped from Landhi area while leaving for their work before being gunned down.
    The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which has a stranglehold on politics in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, claimed the victims were their workers.
    About one hundred workers and supporters of MQM staged a sit-in demonstration outside the chief minister's house.
    The demonstrators placed the bodies outside the chief minister's house in protest that continued through the evening.

    "There is a sit-in going on with dead bodies of three of MQM deceased workers. They were kidnapped in early hours at Malir area of Karachi. All of them were identified as MQM people and then the gangsters of Liyari, they kidnapped them and later on killed them," said a leader of MQM and member of Sindh assembly, Faisal Sabzwari.
    He alleged that some elements in Pakistan People's Party (PPP) were backing the gangsters in Liyari area.
    PPP elected its chief minister few days back after winning majority seats in Sindh province while it stood second in the May 11 elections nationally.
    The MQM announced it would observe a "peaceful day of mourning in Sindh" province, of which Karachi is capital, on Thursday (June 6) in protest of the abduction and killing of its supporters.
    They appealed to traders, businessmen and transporters in Sindh to keep their businesses shut on Thursday.
    The steamy port city of Karachi is Pakistan's financial heart and home to 18 million people. It typically sees about a dozen murders a day, a deadly combination of political killings, attacks by Taliban and sectarian militant groups, and street crime.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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