KARACHI - Miscreants hurled a hand-grenade at a private school in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and dropped threatening pamphlets in various residential localities and educational places of the provincial metropolis on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at around 6:50 am in the morning at Gulshan-e-Iqbal’s Block 7 area, a residential place, where at least seven unidentified motorcyclists hurled a hand-grenade at a private school and later dropped threatening pamphlets in various residential localities and educational places and managed to escape.
The miscreants in their threatening pamphlet have asked the government and law enforcement agencies to immediately stop hanging of their comrades who are facing mandatory death penalties for carrying out anti-state activities.
The pamphlets were written in English and Urdu languages and contained two paragraphs. In the first paragraph, the miscreants called upon the law enforcement agencies to stop hanging of their comrades while the second one warned the members of civil society at large against promotion of western culture in the country.
The armed miscreants carried out their activity before the school timings which also carried their message that it was just a warning and government must stop the hangings of their accomplices.
Following the incident, Rangers DG Major General Bilal Akbar, DIG East Muneer Sheikh, legislators of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and deputy commissioner east reached the crime scene.
The whole area was cordoned off by personnel of law enforcement agencies. The children along with parents were still trying to reach their schools following the blast. However, majority of the schools were closed as a precautionary measure.
Talking to media at the crime scene, DIG East Muneer Sheikh said fortunately no one got injured in the attack. He said militants wanted to create panic in the area as they could not confront the LEAs directly. “The militants used the improvised devices during the attack which were without ball bearings. The attack was meant to create panic by making high intensity sound,” he said. “No specific institute was their target,” the DIG claimed, adding that they wanted to create panic in the whole area.
The area where the incident took place is a highly protected zone as Rangers makeshift check-post and anti-narcotics force police station are at a stone’s throw from the crime scene.
An official of a special cell of police on condition of anonymity said it was not failure of law enforcement agencies because it was not the time of schools’ opening.
As a precautionary measure and to stop further such attacks, the official said, law enforcement agencies had started collecting records of religious seminaries established around the area.
“According to our initial investigation, around 40 small and large Madressas are already running in the surrounding areas,” he said adding, in district East, we have found around 200 religious seminaries.
It may be noted that when media teams reached the spot and tried to contact administration of the school, they refused to talk to media persons saying it could create more panic in the area.
Deputy Commissioner East Agha Pervaiz said, “There are 25 schools running in the area and we have suggested the LEAs that during the school timings, these must cordoned off the whole area, besides patrolling and doing snap checking.” “It is a wakeup call not for the government but for the whole society,” he commented, adding, “We have to save our future at any cost.”