Karachi violence toll rises to 47
ISLAMABAD: With twelve more people being killed on Wednesday, the death toll from the latest wave of ethnically fuelled violence over the past three days in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi rose to 47. Officials said that 11 persons were shot dead on Tuesday while 24 people had been reportedly killed on Monday. Around 240 people were killed in shootings and other attacks in July, making it the worst month on record.
Struggling to halt gunfights raging across the city, the government has deployed hundreds of extra paramilitary troops in Karachi. "House-to-house searches are going on and some suspects have been detained," local government official Sharfuddin Memon said.
The government also offered rewards for people willing to provide photographs and videos that show those involved in the killings. With ethnically divided population of 18 million to 20 million, Karachi suffered deadly violence throughout the 1980s, 1990s and during the previous few years.
Officials, political workers and observers said that armed groups supported by Pakistan's main political parties, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party (ANP) are responsible for the ongoing violence in Karachi. According to security officials, senior politicians are protecting many of those involved in the killings. They say the violence will continue until security forces are allowed to arrest the culprits. Police officials say the groups are controlled by criminals.
But critics say that Pakistan's ruling coalition appears unwilling to bring them to account. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Karachi was enduring "a reign of terror and bloodshed", and that the government would pursue "every possible action to restore peace". He said that the government was preparing a stern response to the shootings, arson and property damage. "I want to warn that you have tested the patience of the government enough," Mr. Malik said of the perpetrators. "I won't say anything else. You will see the action yourself." The MQM, a party representing mostly the immigrants from India, had long dominated Karachi's politics, but it has been challenged by the Pashtun dominated ANP with the covert support of ruling PPP.
Activists from both MQM and ANP have been involved in targeted killings against each other, government officials and political analysts say. The violence, which has generally been confined to poor neighborhoods, has also assumed an ethnic dimension, with tensions increasing between Pashtuns and Urdu-speaking people. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussainwarned people overnight to stockpile food for a month as the law and order situation worsens.
"We are running out of patience. For how long will we collect the bodies of innocent people?" said Hussain in a written statement to party workers before a party meeting. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called for a political solution.
"Karachi is in the grip of a multi-sided wave of insecurity-driven political, ethnic and sectarian polarisation that has greatly undermined its tradition of tolerance and good-neighbourliness," it said. "While gangs of land-grabbers and mafias have tried to exploit the breakdown of law and order, they do not appear to be the main directors of the horrible game of death and destruction; that distinction belongs to more powerful political groups and it is they who hold the key to peace."
Struggling to halt gunfights raging across the city, the government has deployed hundreds of extra paramilitary troops in Karachi. "House-to-house searches are going on and some suspects have been detained," local government official Sharfuddin Memon said.
The government also offered rewards for people willing to provide photographs and videos that show those involved in the killings. With ethnically divided population of 18 million to 20 million, Karachi suffered deadly violence throughout the 1980s, 1990s and during the previous few years.
Officials, political workers and observers said that armed groups supported by Pakistan's main political parties, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party (ANP) are responsible for the ongoing violence in Karachi. According to security officials, senior politicians are protecting many of those involved in the killings. They say the violence will continue until security forces are allowed to arrest the culprits. Police officials say the groups are controlled by criminals.
But critics say that Pakistan's ruling coalition appears unwilling to bring them to account. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Karachi was enduring "a reign of terror and bloodshed", and that the government would pursue "every possible action to restore peace". He said that the government was preparing a stern response to the shootings, arson and property damage. "I want to warn that you have tested the patience of the government enough," Mr. Malik said of the perpetrators. "I won't say anything else. You will see the action yourself." The MQM, a party representing mostly the immigrants from India, had long dominated Karachi's politics, but it has been challenged by the Pashtun dominated ANP with the covert support of ruling PPP.
Activists from both MQM and ANP have been involved in targeted killings against each other, government officials and political analysts say. The violence, which has generally been confined to poor neighborhoods, has also assumed an ethnic dimension, with tensions increasing between Pashtuns and Urdu-speaking people. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussainwarned people overnight to stockpile food for a month as the law and order situation worsens.
"We are running out of patience. For how long will we collect the bodies of innocent people?" said Hussain in a written statement to party workers before a party meeting. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called for a political solution.
"Karachi is in the grip of a multi-sided wave of insecurity-driven political, ethnic and sectarian polarisation that has greatly undermined its tradition of tolerance and good-neighbourliness," it said. "While gangs of land-grabbers and mafias have tried to exploit the breakdown of law and order, they do not appear to be the main directors of the horrible game of death and destruction; that distinction belongs to more powerful political groups and it is they who hold the key to peace."
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timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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