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therefore refused to come out of the station. 60 There were some armed police present,
nevertheless, and they were forcibly confined along with their officers in the police station
compound.
The senior officers requested additional support from outside and armed police
personnel arrived on the scene and broke the lock in order to secure the release of the officers.
Constable Abdullah, the head of the Shara-e-Faisal Investigation Unit, was disarmed by some
armed MQM activists who snatched his police-issued SMG rifle. When Constable Abdullah
informed his senior officer, DSP Chaudhry Sohail Faiz, 61 the DSP called up a senior MQM
member on his mobile and the weapon was promptly returned. A senior police officer also
reportedly phoned up PPP leaders caught in the firing across the roadblocks at COD/Drigh
Road Station and urged them to withdraw in the interest of their personal safety. He
reportedly told the PPP leaders that the police were unable to provide them with security.
A number of casualties occurred in this segment of the National Highway/Shahrah-e-
Faisal corridor. Three MQM activists were killed near Wireless Gate 62 . Several were killed or
wounded in the Natha Khan Bridge area. There were conflicting claims about the identity and
affiliation of the casualties sustained here. MQM claimed that three of the dead were activists
of its Punjabi-Pashtun Organizing Committee (PPOC), who had come there to take part in
their rally. A fourth person – Sarwar from Badin – was also claimed by the MQM as its
member. He was also claimed by the PPP to be its worker. 63 The deceased man’s family in
Badin, however, reportedly denied that he had any political affiliation and said that he had
gone to Karachi to work in a factory and was an innocent victim of the bloodshed.
An Edhi driver, Faiz-ur-Rahman, taking the injured from Kala Board area to the Jinnah
Postgraduate Medical Centre, himself fell victim to bullets. 64 The firing from both sides was so
intense that the dead and injured lay on the road for hours.
The few members of the PIA staff that were able to reach the airport confirmed they
had been stopped and ordered to produce their ID cards by armed MQM activists while the
police looked on.
2.7 Airport
HRCP
As stated earlier, all roads leading to the airport, particularly Sharah-e-Faisal, were
blocked by containers and heavy vehicles by midnight of May 11-12 65 . Passengers booked on
out-bound flights could not reach the airport and passengers arriving on in-bound flights were
stranded at the airport 66 . A small number of CJ supporters did manage to reach the airport
through various means. Some had stayed overnight in localities close to the airport such as
60
Express, 13 May (n) and Express, 13 May (h)
61
Express, 13 May (n)
62
The News 13 May (a)
63
According to Express, 13 May (h) he was claimed an ANP worker. A report in Ummat 14 May (c) indicated
that the PPP claimed that Sarwar was kidnapped from Korangi no-6, Ali Brohi Goth near the boundary wall of
the Navy compound. He was shot five times in the head and the chest. Jang, 14 May (c) also speaks of Mohd
Sarwar as PPP, while Jang, 14 May (e) reports Mohammad Sarwar as an MQM worker. It is possible that there
was more than one person with the same name, but the confusion also indicates that the parties were engaged
in a propaganda war to claim “victims”.
64
A more detailed account of the circumstances surrounding the death of Fiaz-ur-Rehman is provided further
below.
65
The News, May 12 (a)
66
The News 12 May (a)
18