Deteriorating security: Nisar to visit Karachi on July 22

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif instructs interior minister to get a grip on the security issues of the city.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chuadhry Nisar Ali Khan will visit Karachi on July 22 to get a grip on the security issues of the city, Express News reported on Sunday.

The tour comes after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif instructed him to look into the deteriorating law and order situation of the metropolis.

Nisar will be accompanied by other interior ministry officials and will be briefed by security forces about the situation in the city.

Express News reported that Nisar will assure Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah of the centre’s absolute support in tackling the city’s problem.

The interior minister had earlier said that he would not disappoint the people of Karachi if entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in the metropolitan city which has become a cauldron of sectarian, ethnic, political and militant violence.

Violence

There was no respite from killings in the city during the first six months of the year 2013, as 1,728 casualties were reported in different incidents, according to a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report.

Based on data from the past six months, the HRCP report declares June as the deadliest month of the year so far with 313 people killed. The highest number of political killings, which is 50, also took place in this month.

There has been an alarming increase in the crime rate as compared to the six-monthly figures of 2012, when over 1,200 people died. In 2011, the count was even lesser with 1,110 such tragedies.

Between January and June this year, most of the people that have been killed, which is 545, were those with no political affiliations, but were gunned down under the guise of target killings. On the other hand, out of the 174 activists killed, the highest number of workers, which is 104, belonged to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).