KARACHI, Jan. 18, Pakistani authorities imposed a curfew on parts of Karachi on. Monday and called in troops after ethnic rioting killed three people, Officials said.
“The situation is under control”, Karachi Commissioner Shahid Aziz Siddiqi told reporters at Shah Faisal colony police station, near the city’s international airport.
He said an indefinite curfew was imposed in the Shah Faisal and Green Town districts because of the tension.
Deputy Police Inspector General A.A. Shigri told new men at least 22 shops were set on fire by aronists who attacked property belonging to the rival community. “They have gone mad”, he said.
Shigri said troops had been called in as a precaution.
More than 350 people have been killed in ethnic rioting in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, over the past 14 months. Most of the clashes were between Mohajirs, migrants from other parts of the subcontinent, and Pashtuns from northwest Pakistan.
But residents of Shah Faisal colony said Monday’s fighting, which followed a nightlong gun battle, were between Mohajirs and Punjabis, natives of Pakistan’s most populous province.
Six people were injured,
The troops had gone back to the barracks only a few days ago after restoring peace following a burst of rioting which killed two people on January 9.
Troops in battledress on heavy army troops fitted with machineguns and loudspeakers announced the curfew. Police with megaphones told residents to go inside their homes. A dozen firemen stood by their tenders awaiting emergency calls.
“Convicted war criminal Andrija Artukovic died of illness,” Tanjug said. It did not describe his medical condition.
Earlier official reports had said he was suffering from numerous ailments normally associated with old age.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 22, 1988
