Shootout with Liberty
I am really upset today. An sms from my nephew asking me about the updates on the shoot out at Liberty did not raise any alarms for me until I switched on the tele. It was as if my sleepy eyes were dreaming. The time taken from reading the sms to switching the television on maybe a minute and in that minute, I had thought only that there must be a dispute between two rival groups or some political procession being fired on by the police. But the news channels were all showing something which resemebeled to the seige in Mumbai. It certainly seemed like watching the next episode of the Mumbai drama. Men with same outfits, same kind of bag packs, simillar manovering and exactly the same motive.
The news that hurt me the most was the attack on the Sri Lankan team. We Pakistani’s are used to attacks (I know, so are the Lankans) ever since that nuisance of War on Terror started but why had it to be an attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team? I am a big fan of Sangakara and Murli and it pained me to know that they were also injured although slightly and were completely out of danger.
The Pakistani government has a lot of explaining to do and just an inquiry into the matter will not work, neither the Governor’s early wake up and visit to the scene. We need to know why were the visitors attacked and what were our security forces doing? Was this the protocol that had been promised to them? The shootout lasted about an hour and the Gulberg Police Station is JUST a minute walk away from the scene!
Liberty is one of the most famous areas of hanging out for the Lahori people and the tourists. It is also the commercial hub of the city and main attraction for the youth to fill their spare time for some pleasure. The roundabout where the shoot out occurred is the busiest at morning hours due to school and office locations in the area. Picture this: You have LGS, Lords International School, Gulberg College for women, Pace, Hafeez Center, City Center, Al-Fateh shopping center AND 12 armed and dangerous men going wild with their guns.
The news channels showed footage of the scene being taken by some eye witness probably from the Coca Cola building or the CNBC office, where the terrorists are shown roaming around and shooting at will. Two of these terrorists also duck behind the Bank Al-Falah sign installed at the round about (the round about had been designed and maintained by Bank Al-Falah) like in any action movie before shooting again at their targets. Another couple of terrorists were walking around the bus stand carrying heavy weapons. It was hard to compare if the scenes were from Baghdad or Lahore. I must have crossed that round about a million times but never in my wildest dreams could have I thought of this to happen. Not in Liberty! (I will upload some pictures of the area soon to make better understand of the place and the scene.)
To top it all, those scum’s easily managed to escape from the scene littering the place with hand grenades, rocket launchers, kalashankovs and pistols. Some hand grenades and pistols were found outside Al-Fateh shopping center. This means that the terrorists must have made it towards the Gulberg Park and on to either Cavalry, Firdous Market or Mecca Town or maybe back to Kalma Chowk even. Some of them were reported to have headed towards Model Town which is also a possibility.
