KARACHI, Pakistan - The new round of violence erupted on Wednesday after a former Pakistan People's Party (PPP) federal lawmaker, Waja Karimdad, was gunned down. Twelve more people were reportedly shot dead on Friday in different parts of Pakistan's violence-torn Karachi, taking the toll to more than 52 killed in the past few days.
The bodies of the victims, found stuffed in gunny bags, showed that they were tortured before being shot, police said.
Authorities link the troubles in the country's largest city and its industrial and financial hub to a mix of political and ethnic rivalries and activities of criminal gangs involved in drug trade, land-grabbing and extortion of money from traders through threats.- Newspaper reports quoted a top police officer, Saud Mirza, as saying the new bout of violence was triggered by a clash between two criminal gangs in Lyari and it then "turned into an ethnically motivated affair".
- President Asif Ali Zardari summoned a high-level meeting yesterday in Islamabad, to discuss the volatile situation in Karachi.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and several members of the Sindh Cabinet were to participate in the meeting, officials said.
A city of more than 18 million, Karachi has a long history of violence amid ethnic, religious and sectarian disputes and political rows.
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