Karachi on alert after 45 people killed in night of violence

CLASHES that killed at least 45 people overnight in Karachi scared residents off its streets yesterday as Pakistan's largest city remained on alert for more violence in the wake of the shooting of a leader in a dominant political party.

Officials said more than 100 people were wounded and dozens of vehicles and shops torched by mobs who took to the streets after Raza Haider, a member of the provincial Sindh Assembly from the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), was gunned down on Monday along with his bodyguard while attending a funeral.

The government blamed the Taleban and the banned militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) for the killing of the MP.

There had been threats against Mr Haider's own funeral, but it passed peacefully and Karachi endured a tense calm in the late afternoon.

Police said about 50 people had been arrested in connection with the violence since Mr Haider's murder.

The latest unrest again raised fears of instability in Karachi, a city of 18 million people and Pakistan's commercial hub, and also about the flight of Taleban militants to the city after army offensives against their bases in Pakistan's north-west.

Some analysts said the violence could ultimately affect the economy. Karachi is home to the country's main port, the central bank and the stock exchange.

The MQM, a coalition partner in the federal government as well as the provincial Sindh government, renewed calls for a crackdown on militants after the killing of its MP.

Wasay Jalil, a spokesman for the MQM , said: "For the past three to four years we have been pointing out and giving evidence about the presence of Taleban and extremists in Karachi.

"We were ridiculed at that time. But now everyone is admitting that the Taleban and the SSP are here."

Karachi has a long history of ethnic, religious and sectarian violence.

Including last night's death toll, officials say almost 200 people have been killed in targeted attacks since the start of the year, although analysts and political parties say the number is likely to be much higher.

Mohajirs, the descendants of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, are the biggest community and dominate the city's administration through the MQM.

It is also home to the largest concentration of ethnic Pashtuns outside the north-west.

Government officials also say criminals, including drug lords competing for turf in the city's teeming neighbourhoods, take advantage of the tension, complicating the police's task.