Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday announced a targeted operation by Rangers in Karachi as Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain gave the federal government a 48-hour notice on Tuesday to bring Karachi back to order after another eight people were killed in ceaseless targeted violence in the embattled city.
The interior minister held two separate meetings in Karachi on the deteriorating law and order and ordered Rangers to proceed with a targeted operation based on real-time intelligence, without discrimination. The Rangers and police were told not to spare any individual or group regardless of their claims of influence or association with any political party. Malik also announced that police powers had been given to the Frontier Constabulary (FC), which would remain in reserve and its services would be utilised when needed. Meanwhile, addressing President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, MQM chief Altaf Hussain said: “I am giving the rulers a notice of 48 hours. If the bloodthirsty terrorists responsible for spilling the blood of innocent people, attacking homes, shops and factories, and setting ablaze motorcycles and properties are not arrested, the innocent people being made the victim of such terrorist attacks would be free to defend themselves. The government shall be directly responsible for the ensuing consequences.” Hussain’s warnings come amid continued targeted violence in the provincial capital, where despite the interior minister’s tall claims another eight people were murdered on Tuesday, raising the death toll from the violence to 139 in the last 10 days. Sindh IG Wajid Ali Durrani told a meeting at Chief Minister’s House that 91 assassins had been arrested who had confessed to 191 targeted killings so far.
food stock: The meeting also announced a Rs 5 million reward to anyone who provided information about the whereabouts of assassins. If a photograph or video of the assassin were provided to police along with the information, the reward would be Rs 10 million, it said. In a late night development, Hussain told the people of Karachi to stock food for a month even if they had to sell their valuables. He said he was asking the people to do so because the government and law enforcement agencies had become “insensitive”.
After 139 deaths, Rangers brought into action in Karachi
