Karachi carnage claims 39 lives in two days

A wave of violence in Karachi has escalated sharply this week, with at least 39 people killed, including a former member of parliament.

Twenty-two people were found dead on Thursday following 17 deaths on Wednesday in the vast port city in southern Pakistan, Saud Mirza, Karachi’s police chief, told the Associated Press news agency.

Many of the victims, who showed signs of torture, had been shot and stuffed in sacks that were dumped on the street.

Waja Kareem Dad, a former national lawmaker from the ruling Pakistan People’s party (PPP), was shot dead on Wednesday evening, according to Sharfuddin Memon, a security adviser.

Attacks have grown increasingly brutal since a spate of bloodshed began more than a month ago.

The government, grappling with a faltering economy and a raging Islamist insurgency, has been unable to stop the killings.

The violence is generally believed to involve some members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Karachi’s main political party representing its Urdu-speaking Mohajir community, and followers of the Awami National party (ANP), which mainly represents ethnic Pashtuns among the population.

Supporters of the two parties – both partially or fully aligned to President Asif Ali Zardari’s ruling PPP – appear to be locked in a bloody turf war to seize control of a city that is home to some of Pakistan’s biggest businesses. Criminal gangs also appear to be fuelling the violence.

“Local gangs who are connected to one political group or the other have also jumped into this conflict. It’s a very messy situation now,” said an intelligence official.

Criminal gangs have significantly increased in numbers, in part due to widespread poverty, drug abuse and unemployment in Karachi’s poorest neighbourhoods, according to analysts.

“There is definite involvement of the criminal mafia and that mafia has the protection of different political groups,” said Ghazi Salahuddin, a columnist for the newspaper The News. “The police have become ineffective. Unless there is a national effort and all the main political parties join hands, this menace will not end.”

Shaukat Qadir, a security expert and former brigadier, said: “If the situation continues to escalate and it grows to a point where there is open war on the streets of Karachi, that could even bring down the government.”