Extra paramilitary policemen were ordered onto the streets of Karachi on Thursday after politicalviolence killed 14 people.
“We have dispatched 500 FC (Frontier Constabulary) troops in Karachi,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad.
The situation also forced the early closure at the Karachi Stock Exchange due to poor attendance, Mohammad Sohail, chief executive officer of the Topline Securities brokerage, told AFP.
“We closed the stock market after half a day due to the deteriorated law and order situation in the city. We did not open the market for the afternoon session because there was very small attendance,” he said.
The fresh violence erupted after provincial minister Zulfiqar Mirza, from the main ruling Pakistan People’s Party, criticised its ex-coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and its exiled leader Altaf Hussain.
Mirza later said in a statement that those remarks were his “personal opinion” and “if someone was hurt by them then I apologise”.
The party, which represents the Urdu-speaking majority in Karachi, has called for nationwide protests over Mirza’s criticism.
Roads were deserted on Thursday, with minimal traffic in normally bustling commercial and residential areas of Karachi, where most shopping malls, markets and restaurants were closed.
Home ministry official Sharafuddin Memon said that the death toll had risen to 14 and intermittent gunfire was heard in Karachi.
“Fourteen people have been killed and the situation was tense in Karachi,” Memon told AFP.
The city police chief had earlier said 12 people, including a paramilitary Rangers soldier, had been killed in the violence.
He said 21 people were injured and more than a dozen vehicles had been set ablaze in different parts of the city, adding that police had rounded up around 160 suspects.
MOST URGENT ATTENTION;Respected CJP
The nation humbly request you to take suo moto notice of Karachi wicked politics of dead bodies by 'guurrge ajals,gurrge baran' who manipulate 'death politics' to blackmail other coalition partner.MQM is doing for many decades and especially during PPP-Z,MQM,ANP coalition.Thousands have killed,they accused each other than reconcile without ever prosecuting the culprits,target killers in their parties as given proof few months back by Zulfikar Mirza.Pleae take up this mutual killing drama of innocent and call spade a spade and punish these parties-enemies of Pakistan who have ruined it systematically to disintegration.They have destroyed institutions ,national enterprises and Transparency International has indicated corruption of thirty trillion in three years which must be recovered.Let you Respected honor,take constitutional support of defense services to end this sinister drama of 'apologising''afdter uinnov=cent have died and strrets have bathed of innocent blood.Please act most quickly,your honor,SIR to save Pakistan and the poor pounded to jelly by PPPZ,MQM,ANP,MLQ
shame!
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