[1]A fresh wave of violence blamed on political and ethnic tensions killed at least 12 people in Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi overnight, officials said on Tuesday.
Tensions are high between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP), which represent different ethnic communities and straddle volatile political fault lines. Killings have been blamed on their loyalists.
"At least 12 people were killed in targeted killings, which started on Monday evening and lasted late in the night," Sindh province’s home ministry spokesman Sharfuddin Memon said.
Memon said the police and paramilitary troops were stepping up patrols in the troubled western and central neighbourhoods to avert further violence. Among the dead was an MQM activist in Aligarh Bazaar area and local lawyer Zia Alam, a member of the main ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
In 2010, political violence in Karachi was the deadliest for years, dominated by flare ups in August after an MQM lawmaker was shot dead and in October on the eve of the election for his successor.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says 748 people 447 political activists and the rest innocent citizens were killed in targeted shootings in 2010. Targeted killings in 2009 claimed 272 lives.
Karachi is also plagued by ethnic and sectarian killings, crime and kidnappings. The MQM and ANP are partners in the PPP-led coalitions that rule both Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital, and the federal government.
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[1] http://103.241.136.51/kajpg-616