KARACHI: Three people were shot dead and two others sustained injuries on Wednesday in a firing incident near Kathore Morr on the Karachi-Hyderabad superhighway.
According to the rescue sources, the firing incident took place during the ongoing protest of the goods transport vehicles’ drivers. The bodies and the injured were moved to a nearby hospital.
Meanwhile, the drivers are observing protest by parking their vehicles at the Kathore link road at M-9 highway. The concerned authorities including Pakistan Rangers Sindh and army officials reached the spot to hold talks with the protesting drivers and ensure the smooth flow of the traffic.
Police said the Frontier Works Organisation’s (FWO) personnel restored to firing to implement a Supreme Court order imposing restrictions of heavy vehicles carrying a certain amount of maximum load. This had created a rift between the FWO and the truck drivers
DIG Karachi East Amir Farooqi said FWO personnel were trying to implement the apex court’s verdict when drivers of loaded vehicles started parking their trucks on the highway in protest against the move.
They also pelted stones at FWO personnel who had no other option but resorted to aerial firing to disperse the protesting drivers resulting in serious injuries to at least eight drivers.
The wounded drivers were transported to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) where doctors pronounced three of them dead on arrival.
Those killed were identified as Ayub, Niaz Ali, and Rasool Khan. Ayub and Niaz sustained bullet wounds on their back and chest respectively, according to JMPC’s Dr Seemin Jamali.
Sindh Inspector General of Police Kaleem Imam took notice of the firing incident and ordered an immediate report from the Malir SSP. He said that legal action should be taken against the suspects involved in the incident,
