Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi came to a standstill in anticipation of trouble after news broke of the murder of exiled Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Imran Farooq in London. Though all commercial establishments remained closed for fear of a recurrence of the violence that Karachi has seen in past months — especially after another MQM leader was killed — the day passed off incident-free. However, on Thursday night, there were instances of buses being set ablaze as reports came in of the murder.
What made matters worse was that MQM workers had gathered in different areas of Karachi around midnight on Thursday to celebrate the birthday of their London-based chief Altaf Hussain. Upon hearing about the murder just before midnight, party leaders cancelled the celebrations without citing any reason and asked people to return home. However, news trickled in; resulting in sporadic incidents of arson.
The party on Friday decided to observe a 10-day mourning and Karachi — an MQM stronghold — followed suit. Mr. Ahmed's father Farooq Ahmend said arrangements would be made to bring his body to Karachi; adding that the burial place would be decided in consultation with the party.
