Karachi: Still reeling from a spate of gang
wars, Pakistan`s commercial hub has now been hit by sectarian
violence with at least five people killed in clash between two
religious groups, police said on Monday.
The clash occurred yesterday between banned Sunni
extremist group `Sipah-e-Sahaba` and `Sunni Tehrik` at New
Karachi area.
The police said that unidentified armed men shot dead an
activist of Sunni Tehrik, which provoked the group and its
supporters launch a counter attack on the rival Sipah-e-Sahaba
group.
Both sides exchanged firing for two hours, which
resulted into the death of five people. The firing forced the
residents to stay indoors.
Later, paramilitary force and police launched a search
operation against the rival groups and detained several of
their members.
Police said that three more people were killed in
the overnight firing incidents in Karachi.
Fresh violence occurred at a time when the Supreme
Court resume hearing of the lawlessness in Karachi.
The police chief of Sindh province, of which Karachi is
the capital, told the apex court last week that 306 people
were killed in ethnic and sectarian violence between
July 24 to August 24.
The Supreme Court had criticised the role of the
police and other law enforcement agencies for their failure to
control target killings.
Meanwhile, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari
and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are trying to woo the
powerful ethnic group the Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to
rejoin the government.
The MQM quit the federal and Sindh cabinets over
differences with the ruling Pakistan`s Peoples Party, the
decision, according to analysts, is of the reasons of the
violence.
President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani called
the MQM self-exiled leader Altaf Hussain in London on phone
and reportedly asked him to bring his ministers back to the
cabinet.
Zardari has assigned federal minister Khurshid Shah to
meet senior MQM leadership in Karachi later today and finalise
agreement with them, reports said.
PTI
