82 killed in Pakistan's Karachi over last two days

At least 30 people were killed and several others including a local journalist were injured in separate incidents of firing in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi over the last two days, bringing the death toll to 82 over the week, local media and police said. The recent wave of violence hit the city 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) 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 of 20 people were targeted in sectarian attacks during the week, but police and other law enforcement agencies failed to control the situation. Apart from sectarian attacks, at least 12 people were killed on the basis of 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 during 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 had been deployed in the affected areas but the law and order situation is still not under control in the city. Talking to media, police chief of Karachi said that they don't have enough force to restore peace in the city. He said that about 11,000 policemen are working in over 100 police stations in the city, which are not enough to control the 20 million people in the city. He said that in their limited resources, they are trying their best to curb lawlessness in the area.