Karachi targeted killing spree kills 30 in 4 days
 Karachi journalists protest January 14 over the murder of Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar. Journalists rallied and boycotted the Sindh Assembly session to voice their outrage over Babar’s January 13 death. [Javed Mahmood] |
KARACHI -- More than 30 people, including a journalist, have died and scores of others have sustained injuries in a fresh wave of targeted killings in Karachi over the past four days, police said.
The new round of killing started January 11 when six people were killed. Eight more were killed January 12, while on January 13 nine people died. On January 14 a pilot for the Sindh Chief Minister and six others were shot to death in various sniper attacks, Police Surgeon Hamid Parhiar told reporters.
The deadliest night so far was that of January 13-14, when seven people on a bus in Orangi Town were killed and unknown assailants attacked and wounded the secretary general of the Awami National Party in Sindh, Bashir Jan.
Also killed the night of January 13 was Wali Khan Babar, a reporter for the private GEO TV channel. His death drew outrage and protests from journalists.
“We strongly condemn the murder of the TV reporter and demand the government arrest the killers and award them exemplary punishment,” Karachi Union of Journalists President Khurshid Abbasi told Central Asia Online. Journalists protested outside the Karachi Press Club January 14 and voiced their concern over the death of yet another journalist.
Abbasi said the inaction of the government in response to the killing spree led to the murder of the TV reporter and several other innocent citizens.
Abbasi said Babar was the first journalist killed in Pakistan in 2011.
The Committee to Protect Journalists recently declared Pakistan the deadliest country for journalists in 2010, citing the deaths of 11 journalists in 2010. Other organizations put the number of journalists killed as high as 19.
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has directed security officials to take strict action against those responsible for the targeted killings, spokesman Waqar Mehdi told Central Asia Online.
The CM has asked police and Rangers to increase deployments and conduct raids to control the situation and to restore peace, Qaim said.
“We have increased security in the troubled areas in Karachi to control the law and order situation,” Police Chief Fayyaz Leghari told Central Asia Online. Security officials have started searches in different areas and arrested several suspects for interrogation.
Special police teams have been formed to conduct raids to arrest those involved in the killings, he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment