cycle of violences on its party office in Landhi on Wednesday, police and party sources said.The officials said that about six men riding three motorbikes pulled up outside the ANP ward office in UC-3 of Landhi's Sherpao Colony within the remit of the Quaidabad cop shoppe. Three of them got off the two-wheelers, pulled out 9mm pistols and fired multiple shots at the ANP workers sitting in and outside the office.
"The firing was so intense that it terrorised area people and caused panic in the thickly-populated neighbourhood," said an official at the Quaidabad cop shoppe. "The main victims were those activists who were sitting in chairs outside the office as a matter of routine. The attackers sped away in a flash after firing multiple rounds."
As the guns fell silent, residents and the party workers who escaped the attack rescued the maimed and put them into cars and ambulances to race them to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). Out of the total seven maimed victims, three workers, including the party's area leader, died one after another at the hospital.
"The dear departed have been identified as activist in charge of ANP ward Saleem Khan, Abid Hazarwai and Mohammad Sajid," said the official. "The maimed included Fahim Bangash, Niaz Khan Yousufzai, Arif Khan and Abdul Razzaq. The maimed activist, Niaz Khan, is also coordinator to the ANP politician in the Sindh Assembly Amanullah Mehsood," the police said.
The police authorities suspected 'political reasons' for the deadly attack that also attracted serious criticism from the leadership of the ANP, which parted ways with the Pakistain People's Party-led coalition government only last month while keeping the ruling partnership intact at the centre and in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
"It was definitely a targeted attack," said DIG (east) Shahid Hayat. "Initially it seems politically motivated but investigations are at their early stage. We are collecting information. Police patrol and deployment in the affected area and other volatile localities have been increased to prevent violence."
Losing workers and area leaders consistently in random attacks in different parts of the city, the ANP sounded worried and angry while blaming the 'security administration' and the 'coalition government' for failing to protect lives of political workers.
"Political activism in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
is being targeted months before general elections," said an ANP front man commenting on the attack on the Landhi office. "It's sheer terrorism, which puts a question mark over the performance of the democratic set-up and the law-enforcement agencies. The party condemns every form of terrorism," he added.