ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government deliberately stoked the political violence in Karachi which left 15 people dead ahead of a rally by the country's suspended chief justice, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.
The New York-based watchdog said the government of military ruler Pervez Musharraf and the government of Sindh province had failed to ensure security for its citizens while police were 'silent spectators' to the bloodshed.
"The prevention of a peaceful reception for the chief justice by Musharraf's supporters demonstrates the military government's intolerance for civil society actions and has triggered widespread violence and death," said Ali Dayan Hasan, Human Rights Watch's South Asia researcher.
"The sequence of events leading up to this violence, including statements from the provincial authorities and the arrest of hundreds of opposition activists ... indicates that the government, acting through its coalition partners, has deliberately sought to foment violence in Karachi."
Hasan said it was a "dark day for civil and political liberties in Pakistan."
Security officials said 15 people had been killed in attacks and clashes in Karachi, where top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was due to address supporters.
Pro-Musharraf activists and supporters of the ousted justice fought gunbattles in several locations despite the presence of 15,000 police and paramilitary forces in the city.
