May 12, 2007, termed one of the blackest days in country’s history

The consecutive Sindh governments-led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) took several measures to maintain law and order of Karachi, which revived hustle and bustle of the city where violent incidents like the May 12 carnage once took place.

Local leaders of the PPP said this on Sunday at a programme organised at the Peoples Secretariat to mark the tragic day of May 12, 2007 when scores of people died as violence was unleashed on the people of Karachi who had gathered to hold a rally to welcome then deposed chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to the city.

The PPP leaders said criminal elements and target killers would not be given opportunity to yet again commit their crime spree for the sake of maintaining peace in the city.

They said the bereaved families of 45 people who lost their lives in the violence of May 12, 2007, in Karachi were still awaiting justice. The chief Justice of Pakistan should take suo motu notice of the violence on that day, they said.

Among the speakers was Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani who said the hearing of the case in court pertaining to the mayhem and violence of the May 12 carnage had not been conducted in a befitting manner. He said people of the city who lost their lives that day had taken to the streets for the cause of independence of judiciary. He appealed to the incumbent chief justice of Pakistan to take up afresh the case of violence on May 12, 2007.

The local government minister claimed that there were many eyewitnesses to the scenes of mayhem, firing, arson, rioting, and violence which had occurred that day. He said the day of May 12 would be remembered every year as one of the blackest day in the history of Pakistan as terror activities had been committed that day under the patronage of the state.

Ghani, who is also the president of the PPP’s Karachi chapter, said a special bench of the apex judiciary should be constituted to hear afresh the case of May 12, 2007. He said whosoever were responsible for unleashing violence on the city that day including the then military ruler General Pervez Musharraf should be brought to justice.

He lamented that the former chief justice of Pakistan had initiated numerous suo motu proceedings in several cases but did not take cognisance of the May 12 case. PPP Sindh General Secretary Waqar Mehdi said the history would never forgive the then military ruler General Pervez Musharraf. Blaming Musharraf for the bloodshed of May 12, he said the former military ruler had fled the country as he was not willing to face courts for his grave mistakes and injustices.

Mehdi also recalled that the incumbent mayor of Karachi, Wasim Akhtar, was the provincial home adviser during May 2007 when the violent episode occurred. Prayers were also offered at the PPP event for the people who were martyred on May 12, 2007.