Islamabad: People in violence-plagued Karachi heaved a sigh of relief as the largest Pakistani city experienced relative calm yesterday after more than a week of bloodshed in firing incidents which claimed the lives of many, media reports said.
Educational institutions reopened, commercial activity resumed and normal traffic was reported on the streets in the sprawling metropolis of the southern Sindh province.
Sindh's home minister Zulfikar Mirza told the media that the government was ready to launch an operation by paramilitary rangers and police in sensitive areas of Karachi for which a list has been prepared.
Coordination and understanding among partners in the Sindh ruling coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party and including Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party is considered vital for the success of the operation.
Towards the end, Mirza announced that the coalition partners would attend a meeting to be held later in the day at the Governor House in Karachi.
Federal interior minister Rehman Malik would also attend the talks. MQM, a dominant political force in Karachi, and the ANP have been at loggerheads due to the violence in the city.
Search operation
Previously the authorities hinted at a possibility of imposing curfew in specific areas for specified time to carry out a search operation for weapons and suspects.
There had been calls for deployment of army in Karachi to restore order, but Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ruled this out, saying that the situation could be handled by rangers and police.
The law enforcement agencies have reported the rounding up of more than a 100 people over the past week in the port city in the unfolding crackdown, amid widespread concern over the poor state of law and order in the nation's financial and industrial hub.
