KARACHI, Feb. 1, Reuter: At least two more people were killed and 50 wounded in daylong clashes between protestors and police in Karachi today, raising the death toll in four days of rioting to eight, police sources said.
They said the Bihari demonstrators lobbed homemade bombs at police, who fired shotguns and tear gas to break up the crowds.
Witnesses said the two protesters who died today were killed by police fire.
More than 1,000 protesters earlier attacked a police station in the Orangi town area of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, and burned its furniture.
They were protesting at what they said were arrests of more than 400 Biharis in police raids last night.
No immediate police confirmation of the arrest was available.
The witnesses said the police fired at the crowd, wounding about 25 people, as the Urdu speaking Biharis, Moslem migrants from India’s Bihar state. Attacked the police station.
The riots flared on Thursday as Biharis began demonstrations demanding the release of a Bihari Member of Parliament, Afag Shahid, who was arrested last May and charged him with possessing illegal weapons.
Shahid was arrested after he went on a hunger strike to press his demand for the transfer of 250,000 Biharis in Bangladesh to Pakistan.
The Biharis opted to live in Pakistan after Bangladesh, formerly east Pakistan, became independent in 1971.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 6, 1987
