HRCP report: ‘Karachi lost 165 people to violence in January’

KARACHI:

In January, a total of 165 people were killed or murdered in the city, according to a monthly report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday.

The report states that the total includes 22 target killings of political activists, with the highest number of those killed, 11, belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, followed by four activists of the Pakistan Peoples Party, three of the Sunni Tehreek, two of the Jamat Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat and one each of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi and the Awami National Party.

Meanwhile 34 people, who were not affiliated with any political party, were also gunned down because they were either accompanying other political activists or were mistakenly thought to be one themselves. While providing a breakdown, the report states that 142 men, 12 women and 11 children died in various incidents in the city in January. Eight men and two women committed suicide, 25 people were kidnapped and tortured, 15 people were killed because of personal enmity, seven people became victims of terrorism, six people were killed in police encounters, six people died from drinking poisonous liquor, five people who resisted robbery attempts were killed, three people were killed due to aerial firing and three people died on railway tracks. Six women and three men became victims of honour killings, while the 11 children killed in the month includes three who died due to aerial firing on New Year’s Eve.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2012.