Fresh violence in Pakistan's Karachi; one dead

Karachi, May 13: A Pakistani opposition supporter was killed in Karachi today during a protest against violence the previous day in which 34 people were killed in clashes between pro-government and opposition activists.

The worst political street violence Pakistan has seen since the 1980s erupted yesterday when the country's suspended top judge tried to meet supporters in the southern city.

Government attempts to remove Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry over unspecified accusations of misconduct on March 9 outraged the judiciary and the opposition and has snowballed into a campaign against President Pervez Musharraf.

It is the most serious challenge to the authority of the president, who is also army chief, since he seized power in 1999.

Pakistan's biggest city was largely deserted today but groups of men gathered in some areas. A protest built up in one neighbourhood after the funerals of three opposition supporters killed yesterday, police said.

''About 1,000 people are protesting on the roads and they have also fired on police. Police resorted to teargasing to disperse the mob but they are still on the streets,'' said police officer Shad Ibne Masih. One person was killed, he said.

Small clashes erupted in several other parts of the city.

The fear in Karachi is that yesterday's violence would reignite bloody feuding between ethnic-based factions that plagued the city in the 1980s and 1990s.

Musharraf condemned the violence in a speech at a rally of tens of thousands of his supporters in Islamabad late yesterday.

But he ruled out declaring a state of emergency saying the people were with him. Elections due late this year would be held on time, he said.

''POLICE FAILED''

The police were widely criticised for failing to stop Saturday's bloodshed in which at least 34 people were killed and more than 130 people wounded.

''The police definitely failed. They did not respond,'' a provincial government official said.

Police said today security measures were in place.

''We have increased patrols and will focus more on the areas worst affected yesterday,'' said city police chief Azhar Farooqi.

Yesterday's clashed pitted members of the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which runs Karachi and opposed an attempt by Chaudhry to hold a rally with his supporters in the city, against its opponents. They include an alliance of religious parties and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which said 15 of its workers were killed.

The opposition Awami National Party (ANP), which represents ethnic Pashtuns, many of whom live in Karachi, said 11 workers were killed and the Jamaat-e-Islami religious party said three workers were killed.

The MQM said 11 supporters were killed.

It was not clear why the tally of party tolls was more than the toll given by the provincial government.

Provincial president of the ANP said he feared ethnic violence.

''If they fail to control militancy it will divide Karachi on ethnic lines,'' said the ANP leader, Afrasiab Khattak.

But a leader of Bhutto's party played down that fear.

''I don't think it's ethnic violence, it's government supporters trying to beat the opposition into submission with the help of the state machinery,'' said Raza Rabbani, leader of the opposition in the upper house.

Chaudhry denies wrongdoing and has refused to resign.

His visit to Karachi was meant to be the latest in a series of protests by the opposition and lawyers to press for his reinstatement.

REUTERS

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