INDIA: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.
According to Express 24/7 correspondent Shehryar Mirza although no killings were reported today (Saturday), the city remains tense as firing continued in some areas including Orangi Town and Banaras Colony.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik met JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to discuss the increasingly tense law and order situation in Karachi.
Fazl expressed his concern over incidents of target killings in Karachi and called for the immediate arrest of those involvedinsuch 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! unabate d 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 Shahs 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 Partys 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 15th, 2011.
0 comments:
Post a Comment