At least 18 people including a journalist have been killed in Karachi over the past two days as political rivalry between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party once again spilled over onto the streets.
The journalist, Wali Khan Babar, who used to work with Geo News channel of the Jang Group, was gunned down on Thursday night in what is being billed as a “target killing”. A Pashtun, Mr. Babar was apparently gunned down near his home. According to the MQM, within hours of this killing there were attacks on Urdu-speaking people across the commercial capital of Pakistan. The city, which has seen considerable bloodletting over the past couple of years as a result of this turf battle between the MQM and the ANP, is increasingly being divided along ethnic lines — Urdu-speaking versus the Pashtuns who have moved into Karachi in large numbers in search of a livelihood.
Amid reports of targeted shootings from various parts of the city, leaders of both political parties held press conferences to trade charges against each other and demand a proper enquiry into this latest spate of violence. A separate enquiry has, meanwhile, been instituted into Babar's murder.
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In a related development, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) described Mr. Babar's killing as a “premeditated murder” and demanded a full investigation. Referring to the latest spree of violence in Karachi, the HRCP statement said: “This recurring pattern of death is a stark negation of the most basic rights that the state is under an obligation to protect….The task of the law enforcement agencies must be more than merely delivering dead bodies and injured to hospitals and claiming to be on high security alerts after the fact.”
Policewoman killed
A policewoman who had been receiving threats from the Taliban was killed along with five of her family members in a pre-dawn attack by heavy weapon-wielding terrorists on her house in the Hangu area of Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa on Friday.
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The head constable, Shamshad Begum, was under pressure from the Taliban, which frequently attacks girls schools in the province as part of its avowed agenda against girl's education, to quit her job.
She was killed along with three of her children and two sisters-in-law. Three other children of the policewoman sustained injuries.
The terrorists stormed her house using rockets and, according to the police, fired indiscriminately killing and injuring practically everyone who came their way.
Located in the Kohat division of Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa, Hangu borders the Kurram tribal agency and has itself been witness to several terrorist attacks including some involving Chechen intruders.