KARACHI: Political parties in Pakistan’s biggest city must help stop violence between rival ethnic-based factions, a provincial minister said yesterday, after days of bloodshed in which at least 32 people have been killed.
Thirty-two people have been killed and dozens injured in two days of clashes blamed on activists from rival political parties in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi, police said yesterday.
“We have confirmed reports of 32 people killed since Saturday in Karachi,” the city’s police chief Waseem Ahmed told AFP, adding some of the 55 people injured in the violence had been shot.
Troops were authorized to use guns to quell the violence, which came as members of the ruling coalition party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) clashed with the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP).
Officials from the MQM and ANP denied their members were involved in the rioting. “We have deployed the maximum number of paramilitary troops in violence-ridden Orangi town, where the situation is now under control,” Maj. Mohammad Ali, spokesman of the paramilitary Rangers, told AFP.
“Our troops are patrolling and checking the affected localities and helping the police control the situation,” he said.
Provincial Interior Minister Zulfiqar Mirza told the provincial assembly police and paramilitary rangers had been deployed in all sensitive areas. “Police and rangers are patrolling the areas but the political parties should also play their role to calm the situation,” Mirza said.
Schools and most petrol stations were shut down across the port city, fearing further damage after mobs set fire to cars. Tension has been rising since leaders of the Urdu-speaking community began saying Taleban militants, most of whom are ethnic Pashtun, were gaining strength in the city.
A political party representing Urdu-speakers, who are known as mohajirs, or refugees, has been the dominant political force in the city since the 1980s.
A large number of Pashtuns and members of other Pakistani ethnic groups have flocked to Karachi over the years in search of work. Pashtuns dominate the city’s transport network.
Taj Haider, a senior member of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, said trouble had been brewing for some time. “It is not sudden. It was going on for a while. They were asking people to buy guns because Taleban were coming,” said Haider, referring to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM party which is mostly supported by Urdu-speakers.
Faisal Sabzwari, an MQM member of the provincial assembly, said the violence stemmed from frustration over rising crime. “For a few months criminal activity against innocent people has increased. Incidentally, most of the criminals belonged to a particular ethnicity,” Sabzwari said.
