Karachi - A wave of violence killed 33 people in the
last 24 hours in Pakistan's largest city, with many of the victims
tortured, shot and stuffed in sacks that were dumped on the streets,
officials said Thursday.
There has been a surge in killings in
Karachi in recent weeks that many blame on gangs affiliated with the
city's main political parties. The government has been unable to stem
the violence, as it also grapples with a faltering economy and a raging
Islamist insurgency.
The unrest illustrates the precarious state
of Pakistan's stability at a time when the U.S. wants the nuclear-armed
country to step up its fight against Taliban militants who stage
cross-border attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Authorities
were investigating the circumstances surrounding the 33 people killed
in Karachi in the last 24 hours, said Saud Mirza, police chief in the
teeming metropolis of some 18 million people. Many of the victims were
tortured, shot in the head and stuffed in burlap sacks, he said.
A
resident in one of the neighborhoods that has experienced much of the
violence said people were afraid to leave their homes for fear of being
killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of being
targeted.
The latest round of violence seemed to be driven by a
mix of political and criminal motivations, said Sharfuddin Memon, the
security adviser to the government in Sindh province, where Karachi is
the capital.
"Gangs operating in the city are involved in the
fresh killing," said Memon. "They are kidnapping people for different
reasons, torturing and killing."
A former national lawmaker from
the ruling Pakistan People's Party, Waja Kareem Dad, was gunned down
Wednesday evening, said Memon. Others were also killed by gunfire and
grenade attacks, he said.
Karachi has a long history of
political, ethnic and sectarian violence, but the recent wave is high
by historical standards. More than 300 people were killed in July alone.
The
recent bout of violence followed a decision in late June by the
Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the city's most powerful political party, to
leave the federal coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party and join
the opposition.
Fighting intensified in mid-July after a senior
member of the People's Party, lashed out at the head of the MQM,
calling him a murderer and an extortionist and maligning the city's
Urdu-speaking community that makes up the party's base. He later
apologized, but the fighting has continued.
The MQM dominates
politics in urban areas of Sindh, including Karachi, but over time it
has seen challenges to its power from the People's Party and the Awami
National Party, a Pashtun nationalist party.
There were at least
490 political, ethnic and sectarian killings in Karachi during the
first half of the year, and more than 1,100 killings of all kinds,
according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. AP
