Karachi: Tension gripped areas of the interior Sindh province on Friday amid gunfire, burning of vehicles and the closure of shops and markets after the bodies of a Sindhi nationalist leader and his friend were found in a burned-out car.
Sources said Maqsood Qureshi, the brother of Bashir Qureshi, the late chairman of Jiye Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), and his friend were discovered in the vehicle in Naushero Feroze city and identified at a government hospital in Bhiria.
Almost as soon as the news of Qureshi’s killing broke in the town shops were closed in Nawabshah and Naurshero Feroze and JSQM activists took the body to the national highway, where they blocked the road by staging a sit-in. Several vehicles on the road were set on fire.
Media reports said that a man was shot to death in the Gharibabad area of Nawabshah while another two people were injured.
The offices of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Telecom, a private bank and a courier service were attacked.
Gunshots could also be heard in Kotri, while in Larkana a strike was declared and several areas of the town shut down.
In Ratodero, a Chandka Medical College bus and a police van were set on fire and examinations were called off at Mehran Engineering University and Liaqat Medical University in the Jamshoro district.
Sources said that the traffic was thin on the roads of interior Sindh and the towns and cities of Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta, Khairpur, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan and Ghotki also remained tensed over the killing of Qureshi and his friend.
A government spokesman said that if the need arose, a judicial inquiry would be held into the deaths and he condemned the incident, appealing to people to remain calm.
