Uneasy calm prevails in Karachi

President Asif Zardari told the provincial government it could seek the help of Frontier Corps if there was no let up in violence in the financial capital of the country, as six more people were killed in ethnic and political violence on Monday.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters at the Sindh Chief Minister’s House that President Zardari had issued clear directives for action against lawlessness and terrorism.
The president had issued the directions in a meeting he chaired to review the law and order situation in the city and development projects in Lyari earlier in the day. Malik said a “friendly African country” had provided a list of criminals who were involved in the Karachi turbulence, adding that the government was keeping an eye on the criminals who were operating from that African country.
“The Airport Security Force and the FIA have been alerted on the situation. They have been ordered to keep an eye and investigate suspicious people coming in and going out of the country, especially to and from African countries.” As the interior minister was briefing journalists on the government’s strategy to contain violence, six more fell victim to the ongoing spate of violence and bloodshed in Karachi.
The death toll in the last four days of violence has now climbed to 44, with the number of injured standing at 100. The warring groups eased the borders in Malir and Landhi on Monday after deployment of Rangers in strife-hit areas. Pickets of armed rival groups disappeared and life started crawling back to normalcy. However, a few incidents of firing were still reported from the two areas. Sindh Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah ordered indiscriminate action against criminals in a meeting held at the Chief Minister’s House. Shah said Rangers would be deployed and permanent pickets would be set up in the troubled areas of Malir and Landhi. Meanwhile, Rangers Anti-Terrorism Wing (ATW) and police launched a search operation in Landhi 89 late on Sunday and claimed to have recovered a large cache of weapons.
However, a Rangers spokesman denied any operation in Malir and Landhi, saying the Rangers only performed a flag-march in the two areas. Separately, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) called the operation biased and alleged that law enforcers had arrested relatives of party workers. The MQM-H alleged that the rival group was informed of the operation beforehand and its workers fled the area to escape arrests.