Pak: Politics takes a turn with spike in violence in Karachi
Jan 28, 2022
Karachi [Pakistan], January 28 : The politics of Pakistan took a turn with an increase in violence in Karachi where a worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) died due to police brutality. Several others were also injured.
The injured include women who became the target of police baton charge and tear gas during a sit-in outside the Chief Minister's house in Karachi on January 26 and bone of contention is the recently passed controversial local government law that has snatched away most of the powers from the Sindh's administration, especially in Karachi, according to News International.
The MQM-P has said that one of its workers lost his life during treatment as a consequence of police brutality; the Sindh government's representatives have all but refuted this claim. Be that as it may, the fact is that the police did not spare even children, parliamentarians, and even women, as reported by News International.
One thing is clear and that is the Sindh government must uphold people's democratic right of holding peaceful protests, and it is now on the top leadership of the Pakistan People's Party which is the ruling party in Sindh Province to investigate this matter and seek explanations from the provincial administration. Subjecting children and women to such police attacks deserves severe condemnation, as reported by News International.
The Sindh government must take immediate reconciliatory measures rather than issuing rejoinders. It is imperative, both to the politics of the country and to the people of the city, that Karachi does not once again fall back to the political, ethnic and criminal violence it has seen in the past. For far too long has the city suffered violence and insecurity, its people living in constant fear of what the next minute holds for them, as reported by News International.