[Dawn] As Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
continued to bleed, the provincial government and parties claiming to be true representatives of the over 18 million citizens of the country's commercial capital paid mere lip service on Sunday to the ongoing spate of violence, primarily on sectarian grounds, that claimed the lives of 31 persons in just two days.
Instead of taking any practical measure and neglecting the fact that 11 more persons were bumped off since morning, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah visited some relatively peaceful localities of the city and suspended the Traffic SP (Central) because of the absence of traffic police personnel on certain main roads.
The CM holds the additional portfolio of the home department as there is no home minister in the province.
Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad also did not appear disturbed over the 'tit-for-tat killings' when he told newsmen that the successful show of IDEAS-2012 'proved that Bloody Karachi is secure for foreign investors'.
The role of police and Rangers in curbing violence has also become questionable because the law-enforcers have so far failed to prove their utility in the sprawling metropolis, though they have been told to take effective steps to protect the life and property of the masses.
While the Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
(JI), the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Majlis Wahdat-e-Mohammedaneen (MWM) and other parties, which are not part of the Pakistain People's Party-led ruling coalition, slammed the government for failing to protect the life and property of citizens, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) also refused to share the responsibility of the city's law and order with the PPP despite having its own governor and an army of ministers in the federal and provincial governments.
The MQM coordination committee said in a statement on Sunday that the "relentless killing of the Sunni and Shia people in the city gave to understand that the city is left at the mercy of faceless myrmidons and there is no one to safeguard the life and property of the people".
Condemning the killing of Shia and Sunni people, the MQM viewed the violence as the outcome of a conspiracy and appealed to the Sindh governor and CM to take definite steps to end the killing of innocent people in the city.
However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
an alleged telephone contact between the Sindh governor and Maulana Ahmed Ludhiyanvi of the ASWJ infuriated the MWM to an extent that it called upon
President Asif Ali Ten PercentZardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
and MQM chief Altaf Hussain 'to dismiss Ishratul Ibad as Sindh governor for his connections with notorious outlawed terrorist organization'.
MWM leaders condemned the 'hypocrisy of the ruling coalition and the MQM' and urged them to clarify their position on terrorism. They alleged that the governor was responsible 'for genocide of Shias in Bloody Karachi'.
Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi of the ASWJ told newsmen that violence in Bloody Karachi was part of an international conspiracy and the government had completely failed to stem violence and in arresting killers of more than 100 workers of his party.
He said he would not guarantee peace in the city if an ASWJ rally to be taken out on the first of Muharram to remember the martyrdom day of Hazrat Omar Farooq was stopped.
JI chief Syed Munawar Hasan also criticised the government for protecting killers, extortionists and drug mafia and said the administration and the agencies were unable to apprehend the killers because they enjoyed the protection of the people in power."If the rulers themselves give protection to lawbreakers, how peace can be restored," he said in a statement issued from Lahore.
PML-N chief
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
said in a statement that the parties who had got mandate from Bloody Karachi and were part of the federal and provincial governments had absolutely failed to maintain peace in the metropolis.
He called upon the government to use all resources to wipe out those involved in the killing of innocent people in Bloody Karachi.
Meanwhile,
...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!...
the Sindh CM came out of his palatial official residence in the city's so-called red zone and visited Lasbella, Nazimabad, Hyderi, Sakhi Hassan, North Nazimabad, Nagin Chaurangi, Buffer Zone, North Bloody Karachi, Garden, M.A. Jinnah Road, Kati Pahari, Mithadar, Kharadar and Preedy Street areas.
According to a handout, the CM took serious note of a lack of patrolling by police and Rangers and directed the Bloody Karachi police chief to ensure a better patrolling and snap checking system because "it was the prime duty of the government to provide safety of life and property to the citizens". He also took serious notice of the dilapidated condition of roads in many areas of the city and ordered the administrator of the Bloody Karachi Metr opolitan Corporation to get these roads repaired at the earliest.