Situation Update - Karachi Tense - December, 29, 2007

Word from the journalist community: About 75% of the rioting that has occurred in the aftermath of Ms. Bhutto's assassination, was out a sense of genuine rage by supporters. The remaining 25% is suspected to be the work miscreants.

Saturday, December, 29, 2007, 4:30 pm PST

I just got back from urgent grocery shopping, the general feeling outside is tense, a few general stores have opened, prices on major commodities items are jacked up, as expected. People are out and about but there is a sense of nervousness in the air.

There are signs of the rioting all around - on Shamshir, Defence Phase V you have quite a lot of damage. Traffic lights smashed and burned to the ground, the UBL bank in the Khada Market has all its windows smashed. The road to Gizri Village is closed - there are reports of sporadic rioting. There is a strong Makrani presence in Gizri, many of whom are PPP supporters.

Saturday, December, 29, 2007, 1:30 pm PST

Following is a situation update from one Syed Asif Alam, President and Founder of the Association of Pakistani Professionals (AOPP).

Saturday, 1:30pm PST..

...and two days after I am still in a shock; I was stuck in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, had to stay there overnight. We put our two kids in the car the next morning at 7 am and headed towards my parents house in Defense Phase V. We found pockets that could easily depict a war zone. Long lines of burn cars, at times more then 80-100 cars. I asked my wife to keep both the kids in the kneel down position in the back seat.

I ventured out few minutes ago (Saturday) and all the shops are still closed! Defense is usually unharmed by the Karachi violence but this time all the shops in this area is also closed. You can see few burned cars, broken banks and some shops that were attacked..

More Karachi updates can be read at Karachi MetroBlog.

To submit addition updates, email arafiq786@yahoo.com, or submit a comment to this post.