Toll in Karachi bloodshed rises to 33

KARACHI: Unknown gunmen killed four people in different incidents of target killing in Karachi on Wednesday, bringing to 33 the number of people killed in the city in the past 24 hours.
“It is right now difficult to name any groups over involvement in the killings but I can say one thing — this is a conspiracy to destabilise Karachi,” city police chief Fayyaz Leghari told AFP.
“Police have arrested several suspects and they are being interrogated,” Leghari said without disclosing any numbers.
Moreover, a curfew may be imposed in certain neighbourhoods of Karachi, television reports quoted sources as saying.
Search operations are reportedly going to be launched in the city's sensitive areas, reports said.
Commercial centres shut down in the wake of the violence that intensified on Tuesday claiming at least 29 lives.
Police and paramilitary troops patrolled troubled parts of the city, which were deserted with public transport on strike, an AFP reporter said.
Police were searching for attackers in eastern and southern parts of the city where the violence has been concentrated.
The head of the Karachi Transporters' Association said it would have been risky to work on Wednesday, although the stock exchange was functioning.
“It is always very dangerous to bring public transport to the roads on such occasions,” Irshad Bokhari told AFP.
Roads were clear, and shopping centres and educational institutions closed across the teeming city of 20 million, heading a call from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on citizens to mourn the deaths.
“Our party gave the call to mourn the deaths of innocent people in the city,” senior MQM official Farooq Sattar told AFP.
Some shops were set on fire in the city’s Malir neighbourhood, where police tried to calm gathering crowds, footage broadcast on private television channels showed.
Several small shops, including fruit and vegetable stalls, were set ablaze in the area. Young men ran onto the streets, and police officers tried to keep the situation under control, the footage showed.
During Tuesday’s violence, at least 12 of the victims were killed in an attack on a scrap market in the city's Shershah area. It was the worst single incident since the latest outbreak of violence erupted on Saturday. In the Shershah attack, most of those killed were shopkeepers and workers. Nine people were also injured in the incident when about 10 unknown gunmen opened fire.
Sindh Youth Affairs Minister Faisal Sabzwari said almost all victims of the Shershah attack belonged to the Urdu-speaking community. The attack was followed by several incidents of shooting in different areas, leaving several more people dead.
The MQM alleged that elements involved in ‘Lyari gang war’ were involved in the Shershah attack.
In a statement, the MQM coordination committee said there was credible information that Lyari gangsters Baba Ladla, Jabbar Langra, Faisal Pathan, Fahad, Mulla Raju, Shafi Magsi, Lal Mohammad Magsi and Zubair Wehsi had carried out the attack.
It said the attackers had gone to the junk market on motorcycles from Mewashah graveyard, but they were not intercepted by police.
Karachi, a port city of some 20 million, has a long history of political, ethnic and religious strife, but this year has been exceptionally bloody. As of June, around 300 ''targeted killings'' had occurred in the city, roughly twice that of 2009. Many of the killings in Karachi have been linked to gangs allegedly controlled by political parties.

Saudi prince jailed for life by British court for murder

LONDON: A Saudi prince, the grandson of King Abdullah, was jailed for life by a British court Wednesday for murdering his servant in a London hotel.
Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir al Saud, 34, was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years by a judge at London's Old Bailey, also known as the Central Criminal Court.
“It is very unusual for a prince to be in the dock on a murder charge. No one in this country is above the law,” judge David Bean told Saud as he sentenced him.
The court convicted Saud on Tuesday of beating and strangling Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz to death on February 15 in the climax of a long campaign of violent sexual abuse. – AFP

Army not being called in Karachi, says PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said army was not being called in Karachi to restore law and order, and stressed that the political leadership was capable of addressing the issue.
Talking to media representatives, Prime Minister Gilani dismissed remarks by Pakistan People’s Party leader Nabeel Gabol of calling the army to take control of the city. Gilani said that was Gabol’s “personal view”.
“It is not the point of the view of my party,” Gilani said.
He said the army could be called in to assist the civilian government, but added that “the political leadership of the country was capable of containing the situation”.
When asked whether he had any information that the unrest in the city was being manipulated by foreign hands, Gilani said he would respond once he received a detailed report from Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Condemning the killings in Karachi, Gilani said he had personally spoken to the stakeholders in Karachi and that efforts were underway to bring peace to the city.
To a question regarding the Supreme Court's decision on the 18th Amendment expected tomorrow, Gilani said he hoped for a positive verdict. He further said that the PPP held the court in high esteem. — APP

Bank of England chief issues ‘currency war’ warning

LONDON: Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned that tensions between countries over their respective exchange rates could degenerate into trade protectionism amid talk of a potential 'currency war'.
Ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in South Korea this weekend, King told British business leaders late on Tuesday that “the need to act in the collective interest has yet to be recognised”.
“Unless it is, it will be only a matter of time before one or more countries resort to trade protectionism as the only domestic instrument to support a necessary rebalancing” of economies.
“That could, as it did in the 1930s, lead to a disastrous collapse in activity around the world. Every country would suffer ruinous consequences including our own.
“But, to borrow a phrase, in order to be tough on protectionism, we need also to be tough on the causes of protectionism.” King called for a “grand bargain among the major players in the world economy”.
The world needed “a bargain that recognises the benefits of compromise on the real path of economic adjustment in order to avoid the damaging consequences of a move towards protectionism.
“Exchange rates will have to be part of such a bargain,” he stressed.
The United States and European Union, trying to export their way to economic health amid lacklustre domestic demand, accuse China of significantly undervaluing the yuan to boost its own exports.
China says it is being made a scapegoat for US domestic problems.
And it points out that expectations of US “quantitative easing”, a move to pump more dollars into the market, are swamping emerging markets with destabilising capital inflows as investors chase higher yields. – AFP

Presidency summons Malik, Mirza over Karachi unrest

ISLAMABAD: In the wake of Karachi's security situation, the Presidency has summoned Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Sindh's Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza.
Government sources told Newspaper that important decisions were expected on the issue at a high-level meeting in President's House.
Rehman Malik will also be presenting a report to the Presidency in relation to the target killings in Karachi.
Sources further said the government was also considering the option of calling the army to control the city's law and order situation.
Moreover, President Zardari has already directed that those involved in Karachi’s ongoing unrest should be punished.

Four debutants play as Australia bat in second ODI

VISAKHAPATNAM: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni elected to field after winning the toss against Australia in the second one-day international on Wednesday.
The opening one-dayer of the three-match series was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain in Kochi on Sunday.
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc and all-rounder John Hastings were making one-day debuts for Australia.
India also named two newcomers in their playing XI – batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and Saurabh Tiwary.
Both teams rested top players for the series to test their bench strength ahead of next year’s World Cup.
Australia: Michael Clarke (capt), Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Mike Hussey, Cameron White, Steve Smith, James Hopes, Nathan Hauritz, John Hastings, Mitchell Starc, Clint McKay.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Vinay Kumar.
Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL) and Shavir Tarapore (IND)
TV umpire: Sudhir Asnani (IND)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

Another petition filed against Zardari in LHC

LAHORE: A separate application submitted to the Lahore High Court regarding President Asif Ali Zardari's dual office case, stated that President Zardari was corrupt and should be removed from his position.
In the application given by AK Dogar, it said that President Zardari had $60 million in Swiss bank accounts and that he was known as Mr. 10 per cent abroad.
The case proceedings against Zardari holding the presidency as well as the position of the co-chairman of the party office, are still continuing. The petitioner said that the president's position is apolitical and a symbol of federation and therefore he should resign from his party position.
The hearing of the case has been adjourned until Thursday.

“Super typhoon” regains strength, takes aim for China

HONG KONG: A “super typhoon” regained strength and headed for southern China on Wednesday after wreaking havoc across the northern Philippines, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 11 people.
Chinese ports called in vessels as Typhoon Megi looked set to make landfall east of Hong Kong, one of the most crowded cities on Earth and long used to cyclonic storms which threaten between May and September, many after hitting the Philippines.
Lives of more than 256,000 people were disrupted by Typhoon Megi, which isolated coastal and mountain areas in the rice-producing northern Philippines, said Noel Lopez, provincial administrator of Isabela province. Many had been evacuated in the path of the storm.
“This is the worst typhoon to hit our province in nearly 20 years,” Lopez told Reuters, adding that 80 percent of houses in four coastal towns had been damaged or destroyed.
“We're thankful to the Lord because there was minimal losses in terms of lives.”
Oil platforms in the eastern part of the South China Sea were evacuated on Wednesday, a source said. Asia's top oil refiner, China's Sinopec Corp, suspended some small volumes of fuel loading destined for Hong Kong, another source said.
“It's one of the biggest (typhoons) in recent years,” said Kong Wai, a scientific officer with the Hong Kong Observatory, adding that it was expected to make landfall on Saturday.
Hong Kong's Cable Television said a Taiwan vessel had sunk in the storm and at least one sailor died.
About 2,500 fishing boasts in Haikou, the capital of the Chinese resort island province of Hainan, had returned to harbour on Tuesday and the city of Sanya was taking down billboards, the China Daily said, to prevent injuries. Trains from the city had been halted. Megi had winds in excess of 250 kph (155 mph) when it hit Isabela province on Monday.
It lost strength overland, only to pick up energy again from the warm sea waters west of the Philippines. Tropical Storm Risk's (http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com) projections show the storm hitting the Chinese coast between Hong Kong and Zhangzhou later in the week.
In Thailand, flooding has killed at least 11 people in the past 10 days, and heavy rains meant there was a risk of flooding in parts of Bangkok on Wednesday.
“If rain continues and pushes water levels in the reservoirs over the limit, areas along the riverbank in Bangkok may flood, with rising sea water making things worse,” Department of Disaster Prevention director-general Vibul Sanguanpong said. – Reuters