KARACHI, June 16: A group of armed men set on fire three vehicles and dumped heaps of sand and gravel on the Superhighway to block it for traffic in the wake of a dispute over a large piece of land near Sohrab Goth on Sunday, said police officials.
They said the men, believed to be associates of elements involved in sand and gravel business, resisted construction of a building on the plot despite the apex court’s ruling in favour of a builder who wanted to erect a building there.
A police official of the Sachal police station told Dawn that sand and gravel traders dumped their material on the plot measuring around 32 acres and prevented the builder from going ahead with his plans. He approached the Sindh High Court, which recently ordered police authorities to provide him security, said the official.
The builder had been working on the plot for the last three days under police watch but on Sunday gunmen stormed the plot and made heavy aerial firing, forcing the builder’s men to flee.
They also blocked the Superhighway and set a water tanker, a Suzuki pick-up and a jeep on fire.
The armed men dumped sand and gravel on both sides of the highway that linked Karachi to Hyderabad and other parts of the country, bringing traffic to a halt for a considerable time.
The official said that later police and Rangers controlled the situation and got the highway cleared for traffic. However, no arrests were made.