Security stepped up in Karachi as death toll hits 58
Authorities are battling to put a halt to gunfights raging across the city, where political, ethnic and criminal rivalries left more than 200 people dead last month.
The provincial government is offering Rs10 million for citizens who provide information leading to the arrests of those responsible for the violence, at its worst since 1995.
"Hundreds of paramilitary soldiers and policemen deployed in the city's troubled western neighbourhoods last night," local government official Sharfuddin Memon told AFP.
"House-to-house searches are going on and some suspects have been detained."
(Read: How the police is failing the people of Karachi)
The death toll on Wednesday reached 58, after at least 35 people were killed in the space of 24 hours and provincial health official Hamid Parhiar said at least four bullet-riddled bodies were brought to the hospital.
Inspector General (IG) of Police Sindh Wajid Durrani said police had made 24 arrests and some officials said calm had been restored.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain warned 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, due to be conducted by telephone on Wednesday.
Government officials and coalition party members have distributed stickers, pamphlets and placards pleading for peace, but to little effect.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan recently described Karachi as a city in the grip of political, ethnic and sectarian "polarisation".
It said 490 people were killed in targeted killings in Karachi in the first half of the year, compared with 748 in the whole of 2010.
(Read: Violence continues in Karachi; 200 killed in July)
COMMENTS (16)
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Thanks but no thanks to ineffective politically controlled security. . . .it is a tragic joke! Only the Army can be trusted! Period!
Guys ! Let's delete this word "MUHAJIR" from the dictionary of Pakistan today because they are the patriotic Pakistani , and after today's remarks of Altaf Hussain (where he asked India tht can they keep the muhajirs) i guess this is the end of all complications. So from today no one will use this word in our lives. i promised that to myself. What about you?
Army agencies are the most potent player in the karachi conflict. Who created Haqiqi and then proudly claimed doing so - remember Asif Nawaz Janjua. Who quietly gave 2 seats to ANP for it to do exactly what is happening in karachi now - MI. This is a master military strategy; first create unrest and chaos like they did in Swat and then move in and take the credit for restoring peace. http://karachitargetkilling.wordpress.com
This is absolutely a glaring example of yellow journalism. The press is not supposed to spread panic and fear among the people by sensationalising the acts of violence in karachi. Why a ' total 58 casuallties ' is mentioned in the heading whereas the body of story says the casualties was a total of deaths in the last five days. If you add the total of casualties of another five days, the figure will jump to scores. The people of karachi are panic-stricken and the civic life is disrupted and such sensational news will provoke the ehnic minorities and give rise to killings. Please calm down the situation by avoiding such inflamatory reports.
Army should be deployed in Karachi to stop target killing, because police and rangers are under the control of political parties and the so called stake holders of Karachi.
Karachi is going to take blood bath in coming days if the Army is not deployed in couple of days.
When deployment of Army in Karachi has been requested by the political parties then government should deploy the Army without waste of time and further loss of human lives.
People of Karachi have full faith and confidence and the Army will be welcomed by various segments of the society.
For God’s sake, deploy Army in Karachi as this is the only solution to deal with the situation, otherwise there is a possibility that Army may take over the entire country by ousting Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and the entire Senate, National and Provincial Assemblies.
I hope that the wise man sitting at the top will read my comments and act to save his government and a possible coup.
i dont know why media give so much coverage to Altaf hussain, he is on media all day long.With informers inside the institutions is it a wise call to give 10m to those who provide credible information about the miscreants? Moreover, the persons who really matter and must be apprehended are those who are leading these terror attacks and pursuing a laid out agenda. Just by arresting those who are paid to burn motorbikes etc etc and create fear is obscuring and concealing the facts. The authorities are not serious because this has taken so many years to tackle whilst it is very well known that Karachi is the main revenue generator and if Karachi fails Pakistan fails-so that be the case why has the situation deteriorated? Something to think about.
"The provincial government is offering Rs10 million for citizens who provide information leading to the arrests of those responsible for the violence" Why spend money to hunt down the perpetrators, ask Rehman Malik because he recently conceded that he knows the culprits.
There is total failure of the police who are supposed to protect the citizens.
Karachi should be de-weponised and a massive clean up operation should be initiated.This killing and lawlessness has to stop.
The government seems to be in screen saver mode......going round and round
If you do a microscopic analysis, all elements who were against the very creation of Pakistan are responsible for this situation. Media outbursts by Zulfiquar Mirza and Shahi Syed clearly indicate that they have no sympathies for people who sacrificed their live and property for the creation of Pakistan. MQM is also not clean in the matter as they enjoyed full or partial governance in the city. This August Pakistan is facing worst ever embarrassment after creation of Bangladesh. Thanks to our corrupt and ill focused leadership.