MQM CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE DECRIES ACTS OF
VIOLENCE, ARSON AND KILLINGS BY ANP TERRORISTS

KARACHI: 3^RD JUNE 2011

The Co-ordination Committee of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) has strongly condemned the violent strike in Karachi and the acts of arson, mayhem, killing and creating a wave of fear and intimidation in the city by terrorists roaming about the city with brazen assurance. The Co-ordination Committee said that the terrorist elements belonging to ethno-linguistic political and religious parties particularly the Awami Nation Party (ANP) that have been rejected by the people of Karachi resorted to heavy firing in various parts of the city. Several people, including police and rangers personnel, were killed in the indiscriminate firing and several others were critically injured and were fighting for their lives in hospitals.

The Co-ordination Committee said that the armed terrorists subjected passengers travelling in bus to severe bodily torture, forcefully took away money and other valuables from. The terrorists set ablaze a number of vehicles in different parts of the city. They attacked the building that had the offices of a TV channel and terrorized journalists and staff present there. In another incident armed terrorists stormed Clifton Grid Station and cut off power supply of a large area.

The Co-ordination Committee said that these parties that had been spurned by the people of Karachi particularly the Awami National Party had called the strike because of the load-shedding being done by the Karachi Electric Supply Company. Their attack on the Clifton Grid Station and plunging a large area in blackout was reprehensible and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

The Co-ordination Committee said that Karachi was the economic lifeline of Pakistan. The elements that were creating extreme law and order situation in the city by resorting to acts of violence, arson, loot, and terrorism were open enemies of the city and its people.

The Co-ordination Committee said that the ANP government in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwah had failed miserably in improving the law and order situation in the province and controlling skyrocketing price-hike. The ANP Government could not give protection to the life and property of common people of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwah and corruption was rampant in every department of government.

The Co-ordination Committee said that the ANP terrorists wanted to hold the city of Karachi hostage at the barrel of the gun. Their criminal and antisocial activities with overt support from the administration were a cause of grave concern. If action was not taken to curb the menace of terrorism, loot and thuggery then the patience of the people of Karachi may give way.

The Co-ordination Committee demanded of President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad and Chief Minister Sindh to take serious notice of the killing of police and rangers personnel during the strike and take severe action against the perpetrators of acts of terrorism and killings.