ludUO

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Law and order
Karachi: Scenes from a war zone.
successful in killing only 92 criminals. According to HRCP, at least 2,284
people died in ethnic, sectarian and politically-linked violence in Karachi in
2012, as compared to 1,715 deaths in 2011. According to some media reports,
the number varied between 2,095 and 2,370.
The police officials in Karachi have been blamed for either refusing to
take part in curtailing the violence or for being incapable of doing so. Numerous
research and media reports claim that the police have been found to be dormant
in majority of cases of targeted killings. However, the violence in Karachi
affected the policemen as much as anyone else. According to media monitoring
by HRCP, 133 policemen and 12 paramilitary force personnel were killed in
Karachi in 2012.
Media reports highlighted that on average at least six people were being
killed each day in Karachi alone.
Political affiliations of victims were suspected to be the cause of their
targeting. No political parties were spared though; round 61 of the dead belonged
to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), 18 to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP),
19 to Awami National Party (ANP), 13 to Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi
(MQM-H) and eight to Sunni Tehreek (ST). The last three months of the year
saw a peak in sectarian killings as well, most of the victims being professionals
from the Shia sect.
In April, the Sindh Police launched an operation against criminal gangs in
Lyari, Karachi. However, the operation had to be called off when the authorities
realised that the police were outgunned and serious losses were suffered by
law enforcers, including the killing of a soldier and the burning of an APC.