KARACHI, 2 July — Five people were killed and 14 others suffered injuries in a cinema house bomb blast and a sniping incident and a private vehicle was torched in the violence-racked city of Karachi yesterday.
The administration, struggling to restore peace, deployed some 45,000 troops in the port city. Three people were killed in North Karachi area by unidentified gunmen and a private car was set ablaze there, while the bomb blast that ripped through Prince Cinema in the heart of the city around 6:30 p.m. killed two people and injured 14 others.
Meanwhile, officials said candidates in the run for today’s civic elections were still receiving death threats by anonymous callers.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement and its rival Haqiqi faction have boycotted the polls and appealed to the people not to vote. Police and Rangers yesterday raided the Haqiqi headquarters in Landhi and arrested over a hundred party activists who have been charged with hurling threats to candidates. In Landhi area, the house of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate was raided by armed people who warned him to stay away from the contest. In Liaqatabad, armed men ransacked election offices of some of the candidates.
A report said that Sharif faction of the Pakistan Muslim League had threatened to boycott the elections accusing the administration of harassing its candidates.
The city administration has declared a local holiday today to ensure that more people exercise their right to franchise, but MQM leader Nasreen Jaleel said she did not expect a turnout of more than 15 to 20 percent.
Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider has warned those inciting people to boycott elections and said the government would treat the threats as an offense under the law. He appealed to the people to go to the polling stations and cast their ballot without any fear.
