Karachi tense as opposition sponsored strike gets underway

KARACHI: Pakistan's commercial hub braced itself for another tense day on Monday day as an opposition sponsored strike got underway leading the provincial Sindh government to impose prohibitory and shoot at sight orders to stem a wave of violence that has left more than 40 dead.

The provincial government has imposed the ban for a month to avoid more bloodshed and violence after two days of violence and clashes between rival political groups left around 41 people dead and more than 150 injured, the adviser to the Sindh government on Home Affairs Waseem Akhtar said.

Opposition parties under the banner of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy are holding the strike to protest the violence that started on Saturday and are demanding the resignation of the government.

They have accused the Mutthaida Qaumi Movement, a coalition partner in the Musharraf government, of engineering the violence which left 34 dead on Saturday and another seven on Sunday when the clashes also took on an ethnic colour with most of them occurring in areas dominated by the Pathans.

The strike came as the full bench of the Supreme Court began hearing the judicial reference filed against suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Saturday's violence coincided with Iftikhar's visit to Karachi to address the Sindh High Court Bar Association but he and his lawyers were left stranded at the airport and returned to Islamabad without moving out of the terminal building.

Akhtar said paramilitary troops have been ordered to shoot rioters on sight and an extra 3,000 soldiers have been brought into the southern port city, bringing the total to 13,000.

"The rangers have orders to shoot on sight rioters and help the administration maintain law and order in the city," the Sindh Home secretary, Gholam Mohtaram said.

The Government has declared a public holiday on Monday with all educational institutions closed and annual examinations postponed till further notice.

Political analysts and opposition parties fear that the violence that has rocked the city was a throwback to the late 80s and 90s when ethnic and sectarian clashes were common and left hundreds dead.