A total of nine dumpers and water tankers were set on fire by angry mobs in Karachi on Wednesday night near the main road leading to 4-K Chowrangi after a heavy vehicle hit a bike rider, injuring him in the North Karachi area.
The city has lately witnessed a rise in traffic accidents — especially involving dumpers and water tankers — which killed nearly 500 people and injured 4,879 were in 2024, according to hospital data. The incidents prompted protests over citizens’ deaths, following which the provincial government banned the movement of heavy vehicles during the daytime in Karachi while also mandating them to obtain a vehicle fitness certificate.
In a statement issued today, Edhi Foundation said that a dumper hit a bike rider, namely Dayan Adil, 22, who suffered “minor injuries” on a road linking Power House Chowrangi to UP Mor. Subsequently, an enraged mob torched several dumpers.
Karachi Traffic Police Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Pir Mohammed Shah told Dawn.com that an accident took place in North Karachi last night in which a youth suffered bruises.
He said that false rumours then spread that claimed that a woman was also killed by a dumper, resulting in five dumpers and four water tankers getting torched.
West Zone DIG Irfan Ali Baloch told Dawn.com that they have no reports of injury or death caused by the accident, adding that “we can’t rule out the possibility of pre-planned arson acts”.
He said that they have confirmed reports of eight dumpers and tankers torched on the main road leading to 4-K Chowrangi.
Police have conducted raids and arrested 19 suspects with the help of CCTV footage, DIG Baloch said, He added that they have been booked under terror and other charges.
Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Khan told Dawn.com that they received a call at 12:43am and the caller informed their control room that one dumper had been set on fire in North Karachi after it hit a bike rider at Nagan Chowrangi.
Consequently, he said that people then followed the dumper, stopping and torching it. He said that the mob also attacked their fire tenders with stones after they arrived at the scene.
Later on, contingents of police and Rangers arrived at the scene, he said, adding that after they arrived, they saw that not one but five dumpers were torched at Power House Chowrangi.
Under the police’s protection, the firemen extinguished the fire. While returning, they were informed that another dumper was torched at Baba Morr in North Karachi.
Khan said a total of 10 dumpers and water tankers were torched in different areas of North Karachi within three hours, adding that the heavy vehicles were badly damaged in the fire.
The Central police spokesperson, in a statement, said that after torching of the dumpers at Power House, contingents of the police rushed to the spot, but the miscreants managed to escape.
Central Senior Superintendent of Police Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi ordered a crackdown against the miscreants.
As a result, the police conducted raids in different areas, arresting 19 suspects with the help of CCTV footage, mobile phone videos and other sources.
All the held suspects have been booked under terror charges, and five separate first information reports (FIRs) have been registered at Sir Syed, Bilal Colony, New Karachi and Khwaja Ajmer Nagri.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday ordered the police and transport authorities in Karachi to conduct random drug tests on drivers of heavy vehicles to ensure safe and responsible driving.
The Sindh government has also made it mandatory for all heavy vehicles in Karachi to have a physical fitness certificate amid the rising number of traffic accidents involving dumper trucks.
Rights activists and members of civil society have said that the increasing number of fatal road accidents in the city and the poor state of traffic law enforcement are violations of human rights, which the state has failed to safeguard.
FIRs
The driver of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, Uzairulla, lodged an FIR at Bilal Colony police station.
He said that he, along with another driver of a private dumper, Sabih Sher Bahadur, were on their way when they reached near Power House at 12:15am where they saw a large gathering of people and a dumper set on fire, forcing them to stop.
After they got out of their vehicles, unidentified people, for unknown reasons, torched their dumpers, forcing them to flee, and save their lives.
The complainant, in the FIR, invoked sections 147, 148, 149 and 435 of the Pakistan Penal Code and article 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Another FIR registered at New Karachi, the complainant, Salahuddin, said that he is a driver of a dumper and worked with Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).
He was returning after dumping garbage at Jam Chakro in Surjani Town when a mob armed with sticks and stones blocked his way near the Power House Chowrangi, pelting stones and forcing him to flee for his life. The dumper was consequently torched by the mob.
According to the third FIR registered at New Karachi, the complainant, Ghulam Shabbir, said he was a garbageman for the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board.
He was returning after throwing garbage at Jam Chakro when, at 12:07am, a mob armed with sticks and stones intercepted him at Power House. One suspect drew diesel from a diesel tank and set the dumper on fire.
In the fourth FIR registered at Khawaja Ajmer Nagri, the complainant Habibullah said that he is the owner of a water tanker and supplied water to a factory.
His driver, Mohammed Sadiq, was carrying water from the official hydrant Crush Plant for the factory when some suspects riding motorcycles intercepted the driver at Baba Morr at gunpoint. They beat the driver after forcibly removing him from the driving seat, ransacked it and torched it after sprinkling petrol.
In the fifth FIR registered at Sir Syed police station, the dumper driver, Nizamuddin, said that around 15 people travelling in a car and three motorcycles intercepted him on the main road near UP Mor. He said that they assaulted the conductor and broke the dumper’s windowpanes. However, he sped the dumper from there in an effort to save himself and the vehicle from being torched.
Meanwhile, dumper operators threw garbage on the main Superhighway near Sohrab Goth as a protest, said Sohrab Goth police Station House Officer Sohail Khaskheli.
He said both tracks of the highway were blocked for traffic, adding that they managed to remove the debris and cleared the highway at 3:30am.
The East police spokesperson in a statement said the highway remained closed for an hour, and the police persuaded the dumper drivers to end their protest through negotiations.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Sindh Ziaul Hasan Lanjar and Governor Sindh Kamran Khan Tesoori took notice of arson acts.
Separately, Sharafi Goth police SHO Sadaruddin Mirani said that reckless driving claimed the life of another young man in Sharafi Goth last night.
SHO Mirani said the victim was riding the bike when a trailer killed him near Murtaza Chowrangim, adding that the errant driver was arrested and the heavy vehicle impounded.
The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities. He said the police are waiting for relatives to lodge an FIR to initiate formal legal proceedings.
