KARACHI, Pakistan: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ordered the army to help restore peace to her troubled home province, where hundreds of people have been killed or wounded in ethnic violence, government sources said Tuesday.

Critics, including some within Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party say she has not done enough to stop a wave of kidnappings, assassinations and sniper attacks that have left more than 250 people dead and 1,000 injured in the past two weeks in Sindh Province.

In Karachi, the provincial capital and Pakistan’s largest city, 89 people have been killed since Saturday in random shootings and clashes between rival ethnic groups and security forces, officials said.

Despite escalating violence, Bhutto again rejected calls to dismiss the provincial government and declare a state of emergency, according to government sources.

The prime minister called emergency meetings in Karachi with provincial officials. Also attending was Gen Mirza Aslam Reg, Pakistan’s army chief of staff, who cut short a visit to Bangladesh.

Bhutto has accused neighboring India of stirring up much of the trouble in Sindh. New Delhi denies the allegations.

“The country is confronted with civil war,” said opposition leader Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, referring to the violence in Sindh. “How long can the government be  … like the ostrich with its head buried in the sand?”

Police blame the current violence on a militant faction of the Mohajir Qami Movement a small political party representing descendants of Moslem Indians how immigrated to Pakistan during the 1947 partition of the subcontinent.

The group is demanding recognition as Pakistan fifth nationality along with the Pathans, Punjabis, Baluch and Sindhis. The Mohajir groups once backed Bhutto but withdraw its support last November and forced a no confidence vote, which she narrowly survived.

Tensions have been simmering for years between the Mohajirs and other ethnic groups.

Ethnic rivalries erupted anew on May 15 in Hyderabad. By the time the army was deployed to restore order Sunday at least 180 people had been killed and nearly 500 wounded.

The army was deployed in Hyderabad about 150 miles north of Karachi, after security forces opened fire on a crowd of 10,000 people who defied curfew. They defied the curfew at the urging of Moslem clerics, who told them to take to the streets to demand food and restoration of their water and electricity.

Article extracted from this publication >> June 8, 1990