Karachi police register case under terrorism law following scuffle at MQM-P's Karachi headquarters

Karachi police have registered a case under terrorism charges following a scuffle between two groups at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s headquarters in Karachi on Sunday. The first information report, dated August 4 and a copy of which is available with Dawn, was registered at the New Town police station on behalf of the state, through Assistant Sub-Inspector Mirza Anwar Baig. It invoked Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of an unlawful assembly, guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 337-A(i) (shajjah-i-khafifah or injuring someone’s head or face), 337H(ii) (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act), 324 (attempt to murder), and 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Two named suspects, identified as Azhar alias Lumba and Zeeshan Habib, and 20-25 unidentified individuals have been nominated in the FIR. According to the complainant, he received information at 8pm on August 2 that a clash had broken out between two groups near Bahadurabad’s Choti Market, during which a man identified as Amir sustained a bullet wound in his arm. Two others, identified as Asad and Kashir Ali, were also injured, the FIR stated. It added that the three injured men were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Meanwhile, the suspects kept firing at each other and in the air, which “caused terror and panic among the people in the area”, the FIR stated. It further mentioned that the Sindh government had imposed Section 144, under which the display of weapons and rioting was prohibited. According to the FIR, the suspects later fled the scene. The incident The scuffle took place during a meeting of the MQM-P at the party’s headquarters in Bahadurabad on Sunday evening. Police said that supporters of the Mustafa Kamal-Anis Qaimkhani group had allegedly beaten and thrown out their opponents, belonging to the Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui group, from the party headquarters. A police official told Dawn the situation escalated after Siddiqui left the meeting, with a scuffle breaking out between workers belonging to groups led by Qaimkhani and Kamal and those supporting Siddiqui and Aminul Haque. It was not clear what led to the scuffle between the two groups. According to the official, workers from the Qaimkhani group allegedly assaulted members of the Siddiqui group and forcibly removed them from the party’s headquarters. The official said heavy firing was also reported from inside the party headquarters, causing fear and panic in the area. On Tuesday, an official told Dawn that police patrolling and deployment had been increased in the area to provide a sense of protection to residents, who were quite afraid following the clash and heavy firing at the MQM-P headquarters.