KARACHI ON TARGET AGAIN...?

Since the mid-1990s, targeted killings and other forms of violence in Karachi have reached their peak for the second time. The terrorists have been able to target kill more than 294 people in Karachi this year alone. However, these killings are not random; the targets are well chosen. They are the leaders of society, political workers and social activists, whose agendas differ from their opponents. It is not difficult to imagine the kind of trauma that such sustained targeted killings are causing to society. They have shaken the very foundations of Karachi. In 2011 alone, 256 people including workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) were assassinated, of whom 69 belonged to the MQM; 60 to MQM-H, 28 to PPP, 23 to ANP and 41 belonged to religious groups.