Labourers major victims of riots in Pakistan's financial capital

The family woke up early and, as per routine, the male members of the family set out for work, the women busied themselves with cleaning and the children went to play in the courtyard of the two-roomed house in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi.

They were unaware of the worsening situation of the city. All of a sudden Aisha, 2, fell and blood gushed out from her head. The children started shouting and the women rushed to see what was wrong with the baby.

She was first taken to a local doctor in the area and later was rushed to Civil Hospital, Karachi where doctors found that she was seriously injured by a stray bullet that had ricocheted off a hard stone before hitting the girl.

“People have been firing near area since the last two days but the situation was not intense in our area and we have no idea how a stray bullet injured our daughter,” said Aisha’s father, Rehmatullah here Tuesday.

Rehmatullah, 50, is a labourer and works on trucks transporting concrete and sand to different areas and lives with his wife and nine children.

The recent riots which erupted in the city last week have left more than 200 injured and 41 killed. The riots badly affected the people of the city especially labourers, pushcart vendors and low income workers who work on a daily-wage basis.

“I basically belong to the Gulistan area of Quetta but the price hikes and decreasing sources of income forced me to migrate to Karachi ten years ago. We have never faced any discrimination before but sadly my baby daughter was the first to be injured by ethnic violence,” he said.

Pointing to his daughter in the surgical ward, he said that she was not examined by doctors even after being in the hospital for eight hours.

Muhammad, 60, was admitted in surgical ward of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre late on Saturday night, with bullet wounds to his right leg. Muhammad is a resident of a small village, Shawa, located near Waziristan, and had arrived in Karachi seven years ago.

He sells second hand clothes on a pushcart at Qasba Morr, Orangi Town. On Saturday evening, one of his relatives was killed in the riots and he was going to the funeral when he was shot.

“There was a police mobile, so I was relaxed and was on my way to the relative’s house when a burning piece of iron hit my leg and I fell. At first, I thought that the police have opened the fire,” he said.

Akhtar Saeed, 23, had a story similar to Muhammad’s. He came to Karachi for the first time in his life from the Targa village in Bajaur. He started working with a private company as a drain digger for Rs150 per day.

He did not have accommodation in the city so he resorted to living under a bridge in North Nazimabad. “Late on Saturday night, unidentified men came and opened fire, killing two people on the spot and leaving many injured,” he said.

Naimat Khan, a peanut vendor, was injured by stray bullets in Awami Colony, Korangi, Muhammad Yousaf, a peon in a private school in Hasrat Mohani Colony was injured when men entered the school at night and opened fire, while Qadir Min, a Suzuki driver was injured at Qasba Morr when men stopped his vehicle, snatched cash from him and then opened fire.

Izzat Khan, a conductor, sustained a bullet wound in his right leg when unidentified men opened fire on the main Malir-15 road, during which, a private vehicle driver, Mumtaz, was also killed on the spot.