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| India-Pakistan |
| Let's have a procession... |
| 2002-05-22 |
| One person was killed and over a dozen others injured when some hoodlums pelted a religious procession passing through Nishtar Road with stones. Afterwards young processionists set fire to at least 40 vehicles. And a wonderful time was had by all, except for the dead guy... One of the injured said that one of the participants of the procession snatched the gun of a policeman and started firing at the miscreants who had been hurling stones. As a result, Imran, 21, and Nauzad Khan, 30, got injured. Nauzad was pronounced dead at the Civil Hospital. Guess that wasn't him they were interviewing, huh? Two petrol pumps on Nishtar Road, between Lasbella and Teen Hatti, were destroyed by the mob. A truck and tankers parked in a private compound on the road were also set ablaze by youths. Hey, sounds like fun! Eyewitnesses said as the procession passed through Nishtar Road some tough guys started hurling stones at the procession from Noor-i-Subhan Mosque near Filmistan cinema. From the mosque. Why, who'd'a thunk violence would erupt at a mosque? Especially one near the Filmistan cinema...? Some members of the procession said that when they had turned to the policemen on duty for help, the law-enforcing personnel advised them to handle the situation on their own. "Not me, buddy! Some of those rocks are big! Besides, that's my cousin Mahmud over there. Try not to hit him when you retaliate..." Afterwards the policemen disappeared into the narrow streets of the locality and started teargas-shelling and firing. "Yahoo! Shoot 'em up, coppers!" At both ends of the Nishtar Road, a sizable contingents of the Rangers and police looked on at the violence. "Achmed, there appears to be a disturbance down the road." "Yessir. But it looks like Detective Fosdick and his assistant are handling it. Hear the gunfire?" "Very well. Carry on. Have the donuts arrived yet?" They added that following the ambush from the mosque the procession had also come under attack from the adjoining locality. "Hey! Cousin Mahmud and his buds are beating up some religious guys and the coppers are shooting at the lot of 'em! Let's go join the fun!" Meanwhile, enraged youths set on fire the parked vehicles on the blocked track of Nishtar Road. Over a dozen rickshaws, minibuses, buses, taxis, and motorcycles were set on fire. An oil tanker was torched which fuelled the fire to other vehicles. Yeah, buddy! Now there's a hot time in Karachi tonight! The firebrigade could not enter the troubled road as the police refused to provide them an escort, an official of the fire brigade said. "Go put the fires out? Are you guys nutz? Look out! Ahmed, shoot that man! No, I meant that one!" Several shops and motor workshops were also burnt and damaged by the mob. "Yahoo! Hallelujah, I'm a thug!" As the news of the violence spread in the procession, the participants who were in the forward sections of the procession started returning to the troubled spot. "Yo' ass! Ain't nobody be messin' with my procession!" An eyewitnesses said that lower middle part of the procession which was passing through the Noor-i-Subhan mosque, staged a sit-in in front of the mosque amid stoning and shelling. "Beat up my procession, willya? I'm gonna squat here in front of your mosque until hell freezes over!" "Heretic!" "Infidel!" "Yer mudder wears combat boots!" "Damn! How'd you know that?" However, the organisers of the procession controlled the situation and urged the participants of the procession to move on so that the procession could terminate at Imambargh Shah-i-Najaf. "Hey, guys! They're stoning an adultress over at our mosque!" "Gimme one of them rocks! I'm goin' over there!" Newspaper photographers were not allowed by the mob to take pictures. In one case, a photographer was badly beaten and his camera and flash were broken. Ah, the joys of Old Time Religion... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |