Karachi begins crackdown on criminal elements

Islamabad: Law enforcers are set to launch a new crackdown in Karachi to round up elements involved in a spate of targeted killings in Pakistan's largest city, officials said.

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malek met Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat ul Ebad in Karachi on Sunday and it was resolved to take stern action to curb violence in the country's financial and industrial centre.

After a high-level meeting on the law and order situation on Saturday in Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said 686 people had been killed in the city in various incidents this year.

At least 136 of the killings could be classified as targeted, while others were ethnic, sectarian or because of personal rivalries, he told a news conference.

He said the government had decided to take "targeted action" against criminals and gangsters and stressed that it was the collective responsibility of ruling coalition partners to act against those out to destabilise Karachi.

Instability

The federal interior minister, who attended the meeting, said a committee comprising the federal interior secretary, provincial home secretary, Rangers director-general and police chief would prepare a plan to rid the city of illegal weapons.

The provincial chief minister announced that any citizen providing a video, SMS or any other evidence identifying the executors of a targeted killing would get a reward of Rs5 million (Dh210,000) and the identity of the informer would be kept secret.

He said the attack on an office of Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi on Friday night and subsequent killings had been manipulated by those trying to create instability in the country.

The chief minister praised the calls given by MQM leader Altaf Hussain and Awami National Party (ANP) top leader Asfandyar Wali to their cadres for calm and restraint.

He said President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani were concerned about the happenings in Karachi and had ordered the mobilisation of all resources to deal with the situation.

Allegations

Amid the ongoing efforts to curb violence, the MQM and the ANP publicly exchanged allegations on Friday.

MQM central leader Dr Farooq Sattar alleged those who attacked a party office in Gulistan-i-Jauhar belonged to the ANP and had been identified by witnesses.

ANP leader Shahi Syed said: "It is not a hidden truth how big a terrorist organisation the MQM is."

"Those who give the city bullet-riddled bodies in gunny bags have no right to raise voice for peace and blame others for deterioration of the situation," the ANP stalwart said.

The souring relations between the MQM, which represents the city's large community of Urdu-speaking people, and the ANP representing Pashto-speaking residents, are likely to spur ethnic friction.