ANP decries no probe into May 12 carnage

Demanding justice for the victims of the carnage that occurred 12 years ago on May 12, the Awami National Party’s Sindh chapter held a condolence gathering on Sunday to commemorate the May 12 carnage.

A large number of party activists across the city gathered at the Bacha Khan Markaz, the party’s provincial headquarters in the Banaras neighbourhood to pay homage to the victims of the May 12 bloodshed.

On May 12, 2007, scores of people were killed and injured in riots that erupted in Karachi as then deposed chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry arrived at the Karachi airport to address lawyers amid the legal fraternity’s movement to restore the judiciary.

ANP’s provincial president Shahi Syed, the main speaker at the gathering, said on the fateful day in 2007, activists of some political parties, including the ANP, wanted to welcome the then deposed chief justice of the Supreme Court at the Karachi airport, but a ‘terrorist organisation’ killed dozens of people to thwart the campaign for the reinstatement of Chaudhry as the chief justice of the apex court.

He regretted that neither the government nor the judiciary had ordered any probe into the incident. ANP’s provincial secretary general Younas Bunariee said the May 12 tragedy was unforgettable for them and the party would continue to commemorate it until those who committed the bloodshed were punished.

Political observers say the carnage was yet another watershed event in Karachi’s political history after the Bushra Zaidi case in 1985 that had sparked ethnic violence in the city. After May 12, 2007, the city witnessed again a rise in ethno-political violence for several years.