Troops Patrol Karachi After Ethnic Clashes

Pakistani paramilitary troops patrolled Karachi Thursday and Friday with orders to “shoot on sight” troublemakers a day after at least 24 people were killed and dozens injured in ethnic clashes in the city.
The bloodshed in the country’s financial capital came as the army supported by frontier constabulary launched a major operation to checkmate the onward march of the Taliban who have gained control of Swat valley, about 100km northwest of Islamabad.

Officially the situation is said to be ‘under control’.

‘We have heavy deployment of troops across the city, and they have been told to go to any extent to control the situation’, an official spokesman said, adding that the orders to shoot at sight came from the Prime Minister Gilani.

Karachi has a long history of ethnic, religious and sectarian violence, but the timing of the latest clashes heightens concerns over stability of Pakistan. The latest violence is a result of tensions between Mohajirs and the Pashtuns.

US President Barack Obama considers the Pakistan government as ‘very fragile’. The U.S. has ‘huge national security interests in making sure that Pakistan is stable and that you don’t end up having a nuclear-armed militant state’, Obama told reporters at a White House news conference on Tuesday.

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