Pak Rangers nab 150 suspects as Karachi door-to-door operation ends

KARACHI - The Rangers have ended a search operation launched in various localities of Orangi Town area in Karachi, detaining many suspects in the process.

In the wake of a fresh wave of target killings in the Pakistani metropolis, the Sindh government had decided to launch a selective operation in some 120 localities to maintain peace in the city before the local elections.

The law enforcement agency (LEA) cordoned off the whole area, and entered the localities early on Tuesday morning.

The police were not part of the contingent engaged in the search operation, during which at least 150 suspects were detained and kept at undisclosed locations for further interrogations.

According to sources, many of those held by the Rangers did not have any identity cards with them.

The area residents protested against the unannounced door-to-door search operation, however, life returned to normal in the localities after the operation ended.

Earlier, a “semi-curfew” was imposed in parts of the city on Sunday after at least 30 people were killed in a fresh wave of political violence in the city, including two MQM workers, while an ANP activist, who sustained bullet wounds in Al-Falah area on Saturday, also succumbed to his injuries.

On Monday, a Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) activist fell prey to the ongoing wave of target killing when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at him.

Meanwhile, dozens of suspects linked to the killings have been rounded up, with extra police and paramilitary rangers deployed in Karachi’s trouble-prone western neighbourhoods.

However, neither political dialogue nor security agencies’ efforts have been able to check the growing menace of target killings in the city, where the death toll continues to rise. (ANI)