Three killed, over 100 injured in Independence Day celebratory gunfire in Karachi
Firing guns into the air during weddings, festivals and national holidays is a long-standing practice in Pakistan, but one that regularly results in injuries and deaths when stray bullets strike bystanders. Police typically ban the practice, yet enforcement remains weak in the country's largest city of more than 20 million people.
'Three people were killed and 119 injured in celebratory aerial firing on August 14 in Karachi,' Karachi Police Surgeon Dr. Summaya Syed said in a statement, citing hospital reports.
According to official data, casualties were reported from multiple hospitals: 42 injured at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, 26 at Civil Hospital Karachi/SMBB Institute of Trauma, and 41 cases at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center.
Those killed included a minor girl in Azizabad, a 70-year-old man in Kalri, and a 35-year-old man in Qur'angi.
Karachi, Pakistan's financial hub and most populous city, frequently sees such incidents during national holidays. Rights groups and doctors have repeatedly called for stronger enforcement against aerial firing, noting that most victims are innocent bystanders, including children.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
Prominent religio-political leader's children killed, wife injured in northwestern Pakistan home shooting
PESHAWAR: A shooting at the residence of a prominent religio-political party leader, Mufti Kifayatullah, in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province left his son and daughter dead and his wife critically wounded on Saturday, while he himself sustained serious injuries, according to an official statement. A former provincial lawmaker from Malakand division and district chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, Kifayatullah was attacked inside his residence in Batkhela, Levies officials said in a statement. 'A shooting incident took place at the house of Mufti Kifayatullah, district chief of JUI-F in Batkhela,' the statement said. 'As a result of the firing, Kifayatullah was seriously injured, his daughter and son were killed, and his wife was also critically wounded.' Authorities said the assailant was the JUI-F politician's own son, who managed to escape after the attack. The bodies and the injured were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Batkhela, where doctors later said Kifayatullah's condition was out of danger. The motive behind the shooting was not immediately clear, though the incident appeared to be linked to some domestic dispute. The JUI-F, a major religio-political party with deep roots in northwestern Pakistan, has long exercised influence in the area. However, it struggled in the 2024 general elections, with leaders blaming security threats for their inability to run a full campaign.
Arab News
9 hours ago
- Arab News
Authorities arrests five suspects involved in smuggling Pakistanis to Iran, Turkey
KARACHI: Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested five suspects involved in smuggling citizens to Iran and Turkiye, the agency said on Saturday, amid an ongoing crackdown against human smugglers in the country. The arrests were made by the FIA in Taftan and Loralai border towns of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, which shares a long porous border with Iran and Afghanistan. The development comes amid a crackdown on agents involved in sending impoverished Pakistanis abroad through dangerous routes, luring them with a chance at a better life in Europe. The arrested suspects, identified as Rasool Bacha, Aminullah, Hashmat Ali, Talib Hussain and Ehsanullah, worked for an agent, Faheem Gujjar, based in Iran, according to the FIA. 'The suspects Rasool Bacha, Aminullah and Hashmat Ali are involved in illegally transporting citizens to Iran and Turkiye,' the FIA said in a statement. 'Talib Hussain and Ehsanullah were found involved in helping citizens illegally cross the border.' The suspects had been on the 'most-wanted list' of Pakistani embassies in Iran and Turkiye, according to the FIA. They used to smuggle citizens from Pakistan to Iran, from where they would arrange for their travel further to Turkiye. 'Four innocent civilians were also rescued from the suspects' house during the raid,' the FIA said. The Pakistani government has ramped up efforts in recent months to combat human smugglers facilitating dangerous journeys for illegal immigrants to Europe, resulting in several arrests. Last month, the FIA arrested five suspects in Punjab's Gujranwala and Gujrat districts who were said to be involved in human smuggling and defrauding citizens. Prior to that, the FIA said it had arrested an agent involved in the Morocco boat tragedy, in which dozens of Pakistanis attempting to travel illegally to Europe had drowned near the African country's coast. The boat had set off from Mauritania in January with 86 migrants on board, among them 66 Pakistanis, for the Canary Islands administered by Spain, international rights group Walking Borders had said. Moroccan authorities said on January 16 that 36 people were rescued from the vessel, while Pakistan confirmed survivors of the tragedy included 22 of its nationals. A record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024. Most of them died while attempting to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands, according to Walking Borders. In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek town of Pylos, marking one of the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
German govt sued over Afghan refugees deported from Pakistan
BERLIN: German rights groups took to the courts Friday on behalf of Afghans who were offered refuge by Berlin but are now caught between Chancellor Friedrich Merz's immigration crackdown and a wave of deportations from Pakistan. Refugee support groups filed cases against Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, accusing them of "abandonment and failure to render assistance" to Afghans who were previously promised asylum in Germany. The group Pro Asyl said Pakistan had detained hundreds of Afghans this week in an escalating series of arrests and deported 34, placing them at risk of "arbitrary imprisonment, mistreatment or even execution" in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. "We came to Pakistan one year ago because of the promise of the German government," a 27-year-old Afghan women's rights activist told AFP, asking not to be named for security reasons. "In the last few days that the police have been searching for us, my children and I have become sick," said the mother-of-two, who added that she was "terrified and anxious" after several friends were arrested. She and her family are among thousands of Afghans whom Germany offered to take in under a scheme set up under former chancellor Olaf Scholz in the wake of the Taliban's 2021 takeover. It offered asylum to Afghans who had worked with German institutions or who were particularly threatened by the Taliban, including journalists and human rights activists, as well as their families. However, the program has been put on hold as part of a stricter immigration policy brought in under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who took office in May. This has left around 2,000 Afghans stranded in Pakistan waiting for visas to travel to Germany. "I am worried that if the police arrest us, they will hand us over straight away to the Taliban, and then my identity will be revealed to them and I couldn't imagine what they will do to me and my family," said the Afghan activist. "I am devastated." The Kabul Airbridge initiative, which aims to help those stuck in Pakistan, said that another 270 Afghans who had been accepted under the German scheme faced being deported on Friday and that at least four more guesthouses had been raided. The group said that while there had been previous cases of Afghans in the scheme being deported, the raids over the past few days were of a "different order of magnitude." According to Kabul Airbridge, the German government and the GIZ development agency have previously managed to stop deportations but it was far from certain they could do so now given the numbers involved. Pakistan first launched a deportation drive in 2023 and renewed it in April when it rescinded hundreds of thousands of residence permits for Afghans, threatening to arrest those who did not leave. Many Afghans have braved the heat and monsoon rains in parks, terrified of being swept up in the arrests. Wadephul, in a statement marking the fourth anniversary of the Taliban's return to power, voiced "deep concern" over the fate of those at risk of deportation and said Germany was making representations for them with Pakistani authorities "at the highest level." However, Berlin has continued to keep the admissions program on ice, despite a court ruling last month which found that it had a "legally binding commitment" to give visas to those who had been accepted under the program. Immigration has been a hot-button topic in Europe's biggest economy, pushed strongly by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. A string of violent attacks committed by foreign nationals, including Afghans, before February's election led Merz to tighten borders, promise to end the admissions scheme and to increase deportations of convicted criminals to Afghanistan and elsewhere. Those in limbo in Pakistan do not understand why they have to pay the price, among them a 33-year-old man who worked with the Germans in Afghanistan for three years on humanitarian projects. "We did not expect to be rewarded with this after working for Germany's goals," he told AFP, saying that he, his wife and their three children, after waiting in Pakistan for over a year, had been left in "panic and anxiety" by the police raids. "We fled from darkness, violence, injustice and oppression, now we are treated this way."
