In a bid to check the simmering ethnic tensions in the southern port city of Pakistan, Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza has given law-enforcers ‘shoot-to-kill' orders. He was speaking at a press briefing after a meeting of leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) at the MQM headquarters Nine-Zero here on Saturday. Karachi is witnessing a surge in incidents of ethnic violence, targeted killings of political activists, arson, looting and ransacking. The growing unease between the Pakhtun and Urdu-speaking populations in parts of the city has deepened fears of an outbreak of ethnic violence. The meeting of the coalition partners was called to come up with measures to control law and order situation. Mirza warned unscrupulous elements against such actions saying the government had all the resources to crackdown on such people who wanted to disturb the harmony and peace of the city. Imposing a ban on firing blank shots into the air, he categorically said that he had already given ‘shoot-to-kill' orders. “Nobody would be spared on the basis of his political affiliation or connections.” He said that the criminal elements should not test the (strength of the) government. Confrontation with the state was not such a wise move, he added. Describing Karachi as the economic hub of the country, Mirza said that the city fed the entire country and was undoubtedly the heart of Sindh and Pakistan. He said that he would personally visit the strife-prone areas of the city to take stock of the situation. However, when the briefing was under way, reports of violence and firing was pouring in from parts of the city in which three people were killed and around a dozen were reported injured. Earlier, the provincial president of the Awami National Party, Shahi Syed, condemning the violent incidents vowed to work with the coalition partners-the PPP and the MQM- to check the situation. It would be pertinent to mention here that the ANP and the MQM represents the Pakhtun and the Urdu-speaking populations of the city. Syed said that if any of his party workers had been harassed or had any complaint, instead of settling down the score himself, he should lodge a complaint with the party's office-bearers so that the part could take action in a democratic manner without disturbing the peace of the city. He said that the government would devise a strategy to compensate the losses incurred to the citizens in the ongoing violent incidents. A central leader of the MQM, Farooq Sattar, said that the coalition partners stood united against the menace of extremism and the ongoing ethnic tension. He informed the newsmen that they had already directed the respective party activists to display restraint and to thwart the conspiracy hatched to ruin the peace of the city. “All of us should cooperate with each other to check the criminal elements bent upon destroying the city.” Sattar said that they had already discussed steps to control the situation. He called on the citizens to remain patient. On Nov 27, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, on the floor of the Sindh assembly, had blamed those elements that were defeated in the polls for the ongoing violence in the city. He had said that those elements were looking for issues to destabilize the coalition government of the PPP, MQM and the ANP, but they would not succeed.
