The situation in Karachi began to move towards normalcy on Saturday as paramilitary troops deployed across the city, but another 11 people fell prey to somewhat abated targeted violence that has gripped the provincial capital for days, claiming 98 lives according to official figures.
Rangers launched operations in the embattled city on Saturday with particular focus on Orangi Town, where most of the violence has been concentrated in the last few days. In a 14-hour operation in Katti Pahari, Frontier Colony, Bukhari Colony, Kasba Colony and Madina Colony, Rangers arrested 150 miscreants and seized huge caches of arms and ammunition.
“More than 100 suspects, many of them with weapons, have been arrested,” Sindh Home Ministry Spokesman Sharafuddin Memon said.
Police, without fuel for most of their vehicles, did not take part in the operation and were stationed only in their areas, however their armoured personnel carriers continued to rescue stranded people from Orangi Town. Later, Rangers took control of the town and evacuated stranded citizens and supplied food to many previously no-go areas.
Another 11 people were killed early on Saturday in targeted violence in the city, including a Jamaat-e-Islami activist and a policeman. The death toll from the last five days of violence has reached 98, but no deaths were reported since the wee hours of Saturday morning in a sign of calm finally returning to the troubled city. Shops started reopening and public transport returned to the roads, though people were still cautious. New Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan said he had “no magic wand to improve law and order in Karachi”, and he needed to be given time to bring peace to the city.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik arrived at Kingri House to meet Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) chief Pir Pagara. Later in the day, the PML-F announced it would now sit on government benches in the Sindh Assembly because its demand for the restoration of the commissioner system had been accepted.
Discussing the Karachi situation with Rehman, Pagara said that the army needed to be called in order to bring peace to Karachi. “Everyone should keep in mind my prediction that if the condition is not normalised here, a general like Zia (former military dictator General Ziaul Haq) will come,” he said.
Rehman said the army could be called to Karachi at any time if need be, but at this stage there was no need to call the army to the city. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Malik said 250 Frontier Corps (FC) personnel had reached Karachi while another 750 were on the way. FC would be deployed in troubled areas of the city to maintain law and order, he said. He hinted at an operation in the jails of Karachi, saying assassins were given targets by those who were currently in prison.
Normalcy returns to Karachi, a little too late
