Sindh govt, LEAs draw ire of families of Mawach Goth bombing victims

The failure of Sindh’s government and law enforcement agencies in arresting the perpetrators of and unmasking the network responsible for the barbaric attack on a mini-truck on Independence Day that killed 13 members of Awami National Party (ANP) leader Farman Ali’s extended family has been drawing the ire of the victims’ relatives and the Landhi Industrial Area’s residents.

Seven women and six children lost their lives and several others suffered burn injuries in the grenade attack in the Mawach Goth neighbourhood on the night of August 14. The family was returning to Landhi’s Sherpao Colony from Pareshan Chowk after attending a post-nuptial ritual in the Pashto tradition called Wama (seventh).

On August 7 Ali hosted the wedding reception of his younger brother in an Eidgah ground located in front of his home. And since August 15, after the victims’ burials, he has been receiving condolences in the same ground.

Originally from the Swat valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Ali’s family has been residing in Karachi for the past several decades. He was the ANP’s central council worker, while Mairaj Muhammad Khan, who also lost his wife and children in the attack, was a former Dawood Chowrangi union committee chairman and a Jamaat-e-Islami district leader.

“Thousands of people attended the funeral and now hundreds of people have been coming to Ali to offer their condolences on this incident. It was really a barbaric attack,” said Arshad Kundi, a local and a family friend of Ali’s.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz central leader Amir Muqam and MPA Sardar Khan arrived especially from Swat to offer their condolences to Ali. The party has also submitted a resolution in the National Assembly and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to demand that the Sindh government arrest the culprits.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail had also visited the family on Friday to offer his condolences, while on Saturday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah paid a visit to the family.

“Offering condolences to Ali’s family is a good thing, but the family wants justice,” said Iqbal Jamail, a local civil society activist, expressing his anger over the culprits still at large.

He said the residents and social workers have been planning to hold a large-scale protest outside the Sindh CM House to put pressure on the provincial government to arrest the attackers.

Increasing outrage

The ANP Sindh leadership in its provincial meeting has demanded the federal and Sindh governments to immediately arrest the culprits involved in the Mawach Goth carnage, expressing sympathy with Ali, the party’s central council member.

“With every passing day, the outrage of the ANP workers and the relatives of the victims’ families has been increasing,” said ANP Sindh chief Shahi Syed while addressing the party’s provincial consultation meeting. “The party leadership has barely been controlling the anger of our workers against those responsible.”

If the apathy of the provincial and federal governments continues, the ANP will not be able to control its workers any more, warned Syed. “We, therefore, demand from the provincial and federal governments as well as the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to arrest those responsible as soon as possible.”

He also criticised the prime minister and the chief minister for not visiting the aggrieved family, saying that the silence of the media and civil society on the martyrdom of the 13 people is reprehensible.

“By announcing a martyrs’ package and arresting the killers, the wounds of the victims’ families can be healed,” said Syed. ANP Sindh Secretary Younas Bunairee and other party leaders also attend the meeting.

Justice for families

Local leaders of various political parties, including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the ANP, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Jamaat-e-Islami, recently met to express solidarity with the victims of the Mawach Goth bombing and to evolve a strategy to get justice for the victims’ families.

The meeting was held at JUI-F District Malir chief Maulana Ahsanullah Tikravi’s residence, and attended by PPP Sindh leader Shah Jahan Khan, the ANP’s district president Kachkol Khan and Saeed Afghan, JI district leader Bashir Khan, PTI leader Khalil Jadoon, the JUI-F’s Maulana Tariq Shamzai and others.

The meeting’s participants asked the government to arrest the killers of the 13 martyrs, warning them that if they failed to do so, the committee of local leaders of political parties would announce its next course of action.

Unmask the network

JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman had earlier demanded from the provincial government, the local administration and the security agencies to arrest the killers, unmask the entire network involved in the heinous crime and make all the relevant details of the culprits public.

He said that the government would have to ensure the safety of the lives and possessions of the citizens because it is their prime responsibility.

“Such a gruesome crime at a time when the entire nation was celebrating Independence Day is a big question mark on the performance of the police and other law enforcement agencies. Our desire for peace should not be mistaken as weakness.”