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were also scenes of mob violence outside the Jinnah Hospital as angry opposition political
activists attacked police personnel and people whom they suspected of being MQM activists.
There were no reports of serious injury, however, in the fighting outside the hospital.
2.5 Sharae-Faisal: COD Flyover/Baloch Colony Flyover
Another rally of CJ supporters consisting mainly of political leaders and activists
belonging to the PPP and ANP, alongwith some supporters of PML-N and Tehreek-e-Insaf,
was stopped further along the Sharah-e-Faisal. This rally had started from a meeting point in
the DHA area and had proceeded along Korangi Road, across Kalapul, and had entered
Sharah-e-Faisal at FTC using not the flyover which was blocked but the side lanes. This rally
had negotiated its way past road-blocks through various means. At one point, along Korangi
Road/Kalapul there was a vehicle parked across the road with its tyres deflated. The rally
participants replaced the deflated tyres and moved the vehicle. None of the road-blocks on
Korangi Road nor the FTC Flyover were then manned. There was a police barrier just before
the Baloch Colony flyover, but the police did not attempt to stop the rally.
The opposition rally reached the COD/Drigh Colony Station flyover at around
11.30am – coincidentally, around the same time as the rally that had started at the Jinnah
Bridge reached the FTC flyover. The road was blockaded at this point using containers and
heavy vehicles and manned by activists carrying MQM flags. Senior party leaders including
Nisar Khuhro, Qaim Ali Shah, Khurshid Shah, Raza Rabbani, Naveed Qamar, Nabil Gabol,
Sherry Rehman and Waqar Mehdi, who were riding the front vehicles, led the PPP rally. After
the PPP vehicles, there were vehicles with ANP activists and supporters, and these were
followed by PML-N and TI activists and supporters. All of the vehicles carrying supporters of
various parties carried their respective party flags.
The front of the opposition rally stopped some 150 meters short of the MQM manned
roadblock and motorcycle riders with the rally drove ahead. These front riders were attacked
with stones thrown by MQM activists positioned on the flyover above. Within minutes, firing
was initiated. One of the first persons to be struck was Sherry Rehman’s guard who had
stepped out of the vehicle, when the rally had come to a halt 54 . He was himself carrying a
firearm and received a bullet in his leg. MQM activists were positioned on the flyover, inside
the Drigh Colony railway station, and in some of the buildings located some distance away
from the main road, but with a view of the road. Armed PPP and ANP activists were firing
their weapons from their vehicles or from behind the cover of other rally vehicles on the road.
The firing started just before midday and continued for around two hours, till the
opposition rally participants began withdrawing to the rear. The withdrawal took some time
because there appeared to be little coordination between the front and the rear of the rally
about when to withdraw. The firing made it difficult to evacuate the injured to hospital, as
ambulances were not being allowed to get through either. Stray MQM activists, who
happened to be riding by on their motorcycles, came under fire on the stretch between Drigh
Colony and Awami Markaz. PPP/ANP activists tore down MQM banners from buildings
around Awami Markaz and set them alight 55 .
As the opposition rally participants started the journey back, they came under intense
fire from the Baloch Colony flyover and surrounding buildings, where armed MQM activists
had taken up positions. This was between 2:00 and 3:00pm, or around two hours after the
54
Express 13 May: (h)
55
Daily Express, 13 May: (h)
HRCP
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