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Military expresses concern over Karachi violence – The Express Tribune
The participants at the 141st Corps Commanders’ Conference at General Headquarters, chaired by COAS General Ashfaq Kayani, discussed on Monday the security situation in the country in general and Karachi in particular.
(Read: Pakistan’s poor dying in Karachi violence)
“The forum expressed concern over the law and order situation in Karachi and its ramifications or implications on the national economy,” the military said in a statement after army chief General Kayani met his top generals.
The participants said they hoped the recent measures taken by the Sindh government would help improve the security situation in the metropolis.
Karachi has become a battleground with authorities struggling to stem the violence, blamed on activists from political parties representing competing ethnic groups, from spiralling.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says 800 people, most of them poor, have died since January, including 300 last month alone.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Karachi that the government had taken steps to clear out stockpiles of illegal weapons by cancelling all firearm licences at the end of the month, forcing owners to reapply.
“At present some licence holders have illegally acquired hundreds of weapons on a single licence, which will end next month,” said Malik.
“From September anyone caught with a weapon with the old licences will be dealt with seriously. Such people could be tried in anti-terrorism courts and get sentences of seven to 14 years,” he added.
Malik said the government’s action would bring “a permanent peace” to Karachi, which has a population of 18 million and accounts for about one fifth of the country’s entire gross domestic product.
(Read: “Major haul: Weapons being brought to Karachi in inter-city buses”
A tentative calm has held since the government last week deployed hundreds of extra security forces in troubled neighbourhoods.
The military said government measures should “help redress the situation”.
The human rights commission says the violence in Karachi is the deadliest since 1995, when more than 900 killings were reported in the first half of the year.
The participants at the 141st Corps Commanders’ Conference at General Headquarters, chaired by COAS General Ashfaq Kayani, discussed on Monday the security situation in the country in general and Karachi in particular.
(Read: Pakistan’s poor dying in Karachi violence)
“The forum expressed concern over the law and order situation in Karachi and its ramifications or implications on the national economy,” the military said in a statement after army chief General Kayani met his top generals.
The participants said they hoped the recent measures taken by the Sindh government would help improve the security situation in the metropolis.
Karachi has become a battleground with authorities struggling to stem the violence, blamed on activists from political parties representing competing ethnic groups, from spiralling.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says 800 people, most of them poor, have died since January, including 300 last month alone.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Karachi that the government had taken steps to clear out stockpiles of illegal weapons by cancelling all firearm licences at the end of the month, forcing owners to reapply.
“At present some licence holders have illegally acquired hundreds of weapons on a single licence, which will end next month,” said Malik.
“From September anyone caught with a weapon with the old licences will be dealt with seriously. Such people could be tried in anti-terrorism courts and get sentences of seven to 14 years,” he added.
Malik said the government’s action would bring “a permanent peace” to Karachi, which has a population of 18 million and accounts for about one fifth of the country’s entire gross domestic product.
(Read: “Major haul: Weapons being brought to Karachi in inter-city buses”
A tentative calm has held since the government last week deployed hundreds of extra security forces in troubled neighbourhoods.
The military said government measures should “help redress the situation”.
The human rights commission says the violence in Karachi is the deadliest since 1995, when more than 900 killings were reported in the first half of the year.
