Another four people were killed in Karachi on Monday as violence spread to the southern part of the port city. Seven others, including a woman, were injured as the death toll in the week-long bloodbath climbed to 108. The country’s financial hub remained completely paralysed owing to violence in Old City area, where 80 percent of trading activities take place.
The closure of the Old City area for a day incurs a loss of Rs 1.5 billion to the national exchequer and the trading hub has been closed for the past four days. There were reports of unidentified armed men attacking the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Lyari Sector office, apparently in reaction to the party’s fiery press conference late on Sunday.
The MQM accused Sindh Senior Minister Zulfiqar Mirza of supporting a gangster in Lyari for acting against the MQM. Violence erupted in Lyari after the killing of a Baloch youth, Dil Rehman, in Kharadar. Residents of Maripur and Malir Bakra Piri blocked Maripur Road and the National Highway to protest Rehman’s murderer.
