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number of lawyers and political activists and lawyers were present. At about 6:30pm, the
police arrived and escorted the stranded lawyers to Malir Court. The police vehicles also came
under fire and MQM activists continued to roam around outside the Courts and fire in the air
for some time. Some of the injured were taken to hospital under the protection of media
representatives. 51
According to Syeda Ulfat Shah, when the vehicle in which she was riding came under
fire from T&T Colony, near the Bhitai Rangers base, she and her colleagues abandoned their
vehicle and raised their arms. Some people called out to them from behind the boundary wall
of T&T Colony to come over to them, saying they would not be harmed. When Syeda Shah
and her colleagues went over to them, they were made to sit down and one man armed with a
pistol was posted to guard them. According to her, the men there had a great amount of
firearms and ammunition, including petrol canisters and petrol bombs. The same group had
snipers on the upper floors in buildings around T&T Colony, who were receiving instructions
on cell phones to fire upon supporters of particular political organizations. 52
The first reported case of use of hand grenades in an attack on ANP and PML(N)
rallies came from Malir Halt. Over 18 people were injured, including PML-N leader Tariq
Khan. Because of the firing upon the rally at Malir Halt, many advocates and political workers
were not able to proceed further along their route.
2.4 Sharae-Faisal: Aisha Bawany/FTC Flyover
The area between Aisha Bawany School and the FTC flyover on Shahrah-e-Faisal was
the site of violence from midday till around 3:00pm. One of the rallies heading towards the
airport from the direction of the city centre to welcome the CJ found its way to this point on
the Shara-e-Faisal. The rally consisted of an estimated 300-400 vehicles and over five
thousand supporters, including women and children, of various political parties. The main
constituents of the rally were activists of the PPP and the ANP. There were also other
participants who were not directly affiliated with political parties, and these included members
of trade unions and community organizations.
According to some accounts there were two main rallies that merged into one as they
travelled along Sharah-e-Faisal. One group consisted of PPP leaders and activists most of
whom had started their journey from Lyari in south Karachi. They had been prevented from a
more direct route along M.A. Jinnah Road due to barricades put up by MQM activists
guarding approaches to their own rally to be held at Tibet Centre. Prominent PPP leaders who
were leading this rally included Naheed Khan, Safdar Abbassi, Fauzia Wahab, and Jameel. The
PPP contingent was joined at the Jinnah Bridge (near Tower) by an ANP-led rally that had
commenced its journey in Orangi. The ANP rally too was unable to take a more direct route
to the airport due to barricades and alleged lathi-charge and tear-gas shelling by the police at
the Habib Bank Chowrangi in the SITE area of west Karachi.
The rally led by PPP leaders proceeded across Jinnah Bridge and moved vehicles and
containers parked across the bridge quite easily as these were unmanned. It went along
Maulvi Tamizuddin Road, past Club Road, and onto Sharah-e-Faisal at Metropole. At the
Sheraton-PC junction before Club Road and again at the Metropole Hotel junction, policemen
on duty waved the rally forward. The rally arrived at the FTC flyover at around 11.30am and
found its progress blocked due to the setting up of road-blocks under the flyover. The road-
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FF15.
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FF17.
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