Pakistan PM rushes to riots
2010-08-06 18:07
Karachi - Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was heading to Karachi on Friday as violence blamed on political and ethnic rivalry between his coalition partners left over 80 people dead, officials said.
The violence continued unabated in the country's commercial hub, bringing the death toll to 85, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.
Rioters also torched five houses and shops in different neighbourhoods of the southern city late on Thursday, said another police officer, Majeed Abbasi.
The unrest was sparked on Monday by the murder of an MP from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party, and continued while catastrophic flooding elsewhere in Pakistan plunged the country into crisis.
The violence crippled life in the port city as the MQM, a partner in the Sindh provincial coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), called for three days of mourning over the murder.
The MQM, which represents the Urdu-speaking community, and the Awami National Party (ANP), another coalition partner which speaks for ethnic Pashtun settlers, blamed each other for the violence.
Visit to flood-hit areas
"Prime Minister Gilani is arriving in Karachi late Friday, and soon after he will hold talks with the coalition partners on the law and order situation in the city," said provincial government spokesperson Jamil Soomro.
The prime minister will leave for flood-hit areas of Sindh province on Saturday, Soomro said.
Karachi has been largely spared by the Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked bomb attacks that have dogged northwest Pakistan, but is plagued by ethnic and sectarian killings, crime and kidnappings.
This week's unrest marked the deadliest bout of such killings since the province's ruling coalition took office in March 2008.
The government has not released exact figures, but rights bodies said 260 targeted killing cases were reported in Karachi during the first six months of this year, compared with 156 during the same period in 2009.
