ISLAMABAD, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and several others were injured in separate incidents of firing on Monday morning in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, bringing the death toll to 83 over the past week, police said.
The recent wave of violence hit the city a few days before the advent of Islamic holy month Muharram when the sectarian confrontation between the Shia and Sunni Muslims aggravates and hundreds of people are gunned down almost every year.
Fayyaz Laghari, Inspector General (IG)of Sindh police, said that most of the target killings in the city are based on sectarian confrontation between Shia and Sunni Muslims. He said that a third force is also hatching conspiracies to deteriorate law and order situation by airing the anti-Shia and Sunni emotions among the orthodox believers of both sects.
On Sunday, at least three people were shot dead by unidentified people on the basis of sectarian confrontation.
On Saturday night, six Sunni students were killed and five others were injured when some unknown attackers riding motorbikes opened fire at them near a seminary in the city.
According to local media reports, an estimated 20 people were targeted in sectarian attacks during the past week, but police and other law enforcement agencies failed to control the situation.
Apart from sectarian attacks, at least 12 people were killed due to political and ethnic clashes.
At least seven activists of Urdu speaking political party MQM, two of Sindhi speaking party PPP and three of Pashto speaking party ANP were killed in separate incidents of violence across the city.
Four traders were also targeted in various area of the city during the week. The businessmen community of the city protested against the worsening law and order situation and demanded army to take control of Karachi.
More police and rangers force have been deployed in the affected areas but the situation in the city is still not under control.
Talking to media, police chief of Karachi said that they don't have enough force to restore peace in the city, the home to 20 million people. He added that they are trying their best to curb lawlessness in the area.
On Saturday night, the country's president Asif Ali Zardari called IG Sindh Police and expressed his concerns over the restlessness in Karachi. On the president's directives, the IG issued show cause notices to three senior police officials, and further progress over the matter would be made after the officials submit their final report.
In a telephone conversation with Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, on Sunday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik discussed current law and order situation in Karachi and directed him to increase local intelligence and patrol of police in the sensitive areas of the city.
Weekly Photos of China: Nov 5-11
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