Karachi unrest: Death toll rises to 31

Interior Minister says judicial commission will be formed to probe the murder of journalists in Karachi.

KARACHI: The death toll of the latest wave of violence in Karachi rose to 31 on Saturday, Express 24/7 reported. Most of the victims were Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party (ANP) workers.

Both parties came out strong against the killings. The ANP submitted an adjournment motion against the violence in the Senate saying these killings are destabilising the city.

The MQM also denounced the violence, saying a stable Karachi is in the best interest of the country and that the killings are undermining the peace.

The MQM came out strong after one of its former union councilors was shot dead in Orangi Town earlier today (Saturday).

The Jamiat-e-Ulema-Fazl (JUI-F) also filed an adjournment motion in the National Assembly.

Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza said investigation teams should be set up to check the violence, adding that snap checking and operations should also take place.

The Sindh chief minister said target killings take place in all countries of the world.

More than 20 suspects were arrested in late night operations in Karachi on Friday, following a wave of violence that has kept the city tense since the attack on the ANP deputy general and the killing of journalist Wali Khan Babar.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that a judicial commission will be formed to probe the murders of journalists in Karachi.

Speaking to the media after meeting leaders of religious parties, Malik said that there were some elements looking to silence the media and that the government will control these elements.

Earlier, Malik had met JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to discuss the increasingly tense law and order situation in Karachi. He had announced that there was a third party involved in the target killings.

Fazl expressed his concern over incidents of target killings in Karachi and called for the immediate arrest of those involved in such crimes.

Updated from print edition (below)

Flaring up, yet again: Karachi enters another round of target killings

The city remained tense as the prevailing anarchy claimed at least a dozen more lives bringing the death toll to 22 in the last 24 hours. Around 19 people were also wounded in various shooting incidents across the city, according to police officials.

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of the violence that threatens to breakout into another politico-ethnic feud, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was reported to have called up the chiefs of the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country.

Although the law enforcement agencies’ personnel have been put on high alert and increased patrolling and snap-checking were witnessed across the city, the bloodshed continued unabated and no arrest was brought to notice of the media in this regard. Meanwhile no police official was ready to own the failure to curb the violence, nor has any action been taken against the security officials of the troubled areas. “After the Geo News reporter Wali Khan Babar was killed, the culprits shot and injured the ANP leader Bashir Jan, prompting eruption of violence in Orangi Town and others parts of the city,” Karachi police chief Fayyaz Leghari told The Express Tribune.

“A joint investigation team led by west zone Deputy Inspector General Sultan Khawaja has been formed to probe the assassination of the reporter and subsequent killings,” said Leghari, adding that the police have nabbed some ‘real’ suspects involved in the target killings and violence in the city and promised they would be brought in front of the media soon.

One of the victims on Friday, 56-year-old retired Major Iqbal Kashmiri, was a pilot of the Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah’s helicopter and an employee of the Civil Aviation Authority. Kashmiri was killed by two unknown assailants in Gulistan-e-Jauhar while returning home from work. Other victims included the Pakistan Peoples Party’s deputy secretary district west Naveed alias Noori, gunned down in North Nazimabad, and two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers Hammad and Zafar Sheikh, killed in Liaquatabad and Malir respectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2011.