Zardari tries to quell violence

Islamabad: The Pakistani business capital, Karachi, remained hostage to criminals with the death toll since Sunday evening touching 51 and commercial activities grinding to a halt.

As victims' families grieve, the political leadership could not hammer out a way out of the crisis.

In about a week, 86 people have been killed in politically motivated targeted killings while there is no count for those injured and vehicles set on fire.

Rangers in helicopters monitored the situation in the runup to a likely mopping up operation in tense areas such as Lyari.

Sources told Gulf News that after imposing curfew in riot-hit districts, an operation may be launched after families are done with the funeral ceremonies.

Clean-up operation

President Asif Ali Zardari summoned Interior Minister Rehman Malek and provincial Home Secretary Zulfiqar Mirza, after coalition government partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) weighed the option of quitting the ruling alliance.

Haider Abbas Rizvi, a senior leader of MQM, told Gulf News that peace could be negotiated through a fair clean-up operation which should be conducted by paramilitary forces.

"I repeated what I have been saying before that 5,000 criminals have been inducted in the provincial police, which is part of the problem," he said, adding that the Pakistan Rangers should launch a swift and focused clean-up operation.

Safdar Ali, a street vendor told a TV channel: "I have never seen as many animals lying dead as I have witnessed human beings butchered on the roads over the last 24 hours."

The violence in Karachi comes as Pakistan is engaged in talks with the US on the future of their shaky alliance against the Taliban and Al Qaida. US officials in Washington are expected to discuss a long-term military and security assistance pact with a visiting Pakistani delegation.

Karachi, a port city of some 16 million, has a long history of political, ethnic and religious strife, but this year has been exceptionally bloody.

As of June, around 300 "targeted killings" had occurred in the city, roughly twice that of 2009. Many of the slaying in Karachi have been linked to gangs allegedly controlled by political parties. The wave of violence in the city has coincided with Sunday's election to replace a provincial lawmaker killed in August.

Economic hub

Because of its status as the country's main economic hub, keeping Karachi calm is of prime importance to Pakistani leaders. A major chunk of supplies for US and Nato troops is shipped to the city before travelling overland in Pakistan and into neighbouring Afghanistan. And Al Qaida and Taliban fighters are believed to frequent Karachi to rest and raise funds.

In the latest attack, gunmen opened fire in the scrapyard, which was in a commercial market area, killing 11 people late Tuesday. The dead included eight Pakistanis of Baloch descent, said Sharmila Farooqi, a government spokeswoman.