KARACHI: Fresh political violence gripped Pakistan’s commercial capital, Karachi, on Thursday, leaving 14 people dead in fighting sparked by a senior ruling party leader’s criticism of the city’s dominant political group.
Angry mobs went on a rampage and burnt vehicles after Zulfiqar Mirza, a minister in the Sindh provincial assembly and a member of President Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), urged the people of Karachi and Hyderabad, the second-largest city of Sindh, to ”stand up and rid yourselves” of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
”I appeal to the people of Karachi especially, and of Hyderabad, to stand up for yourselves, for Pakistan, for Karachi and for your innocent children, and rid yourselves of these cursed ones,” he said while talking to reporters.
Provincial minister Manzoor Wasan said 14 people were killed and 25 wounded in violence since Wednesday night. One person was killed in Hyderabad, police said. (PTI)