BBC -- World: South Asia
Karachi tense ahead of protest

Pakistani police and security forces are reported to have deployed in Karachi in an attempt to prevent an opposition rally going ahead.

Witnesses said that dozens of police - including special paramilitary forces - were deployed in the heart of the city's commercial district.

The move comes after the authorities refused permission for a protest rally by the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Shoot-out

Some 1,000 police and security personnel, many with automatic weapons, are reported to be manning the streets and intersections of Karachi.

Reports from Karachi, earlier in the week, said that police had raided premises used by the MQM, and arrested political activists - mostly from the MQM and the Pakistan People's Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

"They have been raiding the houses of our workers and arresting scores of them daily," MQM leader Farooq Sattar told French news agency AFP.

The police were also reported to have shot dead two people on Friday who were said to be MQM members.

A police official told reporters the men were riding a motorcycle and were shot dead when they ignored an order to stop.

"They opened fire at the police who returned the fire which killed both of them," he said.

Targetting Sharif

Friday's rally is part of an ongoing opposition campaign to force the resignation of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The protest by the Karachi-based MQM also has the support of the People's Party, while the Tehrik-i-Insaf (Justice Movement) of former cricketer Imran Khan has planned a separate rally.

The proposed rally comes a day before a planned general strike in Sindh province organised by the MQM and the Pakistan People's Party.

Last Wednesday, thousands of protesters demanded that Mr Sharif step down in an opposition rally in Lahore.

Nawaz Sharif placed the province of Sindh under his direct control last October, in response to growing violence in the region.

The MQM, which represents Urdu-speaking people who migrated from India in 1947, has accused the government of carrying out a campaign of persecution against its members.

Last week, two MQM activists were sentenced to death in Pakistan for the 1997 murder of four American oil workers and a local driver.