Karachi hit by strike

Shops and businesses were shut in Karachi

By Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad

Businesses in the Pakistani city of Karachi and in several other cities in the southern Sindh province have been shut down by a strike.

It was called by an Islamic political party in protest against the assassination of their leader last week.

Maulana Saleem Qadri, chairman of the Sunni Tehrik party, was gunned down by unidentified assailants along with five others in Karachi, sparking a new wave of sectarian violence.

Violence erupted late on Sunday night

The Sunni Tehrik's call for a protest strike was meant to cover the entire country, but was effective only in Karachi, Hyderabad and a few smaller towns.

Big businesses and prominent markets in Karachi remained shut during the day, and there was very little traffic on the roads.

Violence

The situation in Hyderabad, Sukkur and other cities in Sindh province was not very different, where a complete strike was observed in protest over the brutal killing.

Police said that since late Sunday night violence had erupted in some parts of Karachi with gangs of armed men attacking buses and cars.

In a couple of residential districts some people also fired in the air, which police said was aimed as a warning to possible violators of the strike.

The Sunni Tehrik group has been involved in clashes over the control of mosques

However eyewitnesses in Karachi said that by and large people had adhered to the strike call.

But this was not the case in the country's other three provinces where, in general, normal life was unaffected.

The Sunni Tehrik has been campaigning for the arrest of Maulana Qadri's killers.

Police officials admit that his unexplained assassination has added a new, and more complex dimension to the ongoing sectarian violence in the country.

No history of involvement

Sunni Tehrik represents the larger Barelvi faction of the Sunni Muslim community.

It has so far remained distanced from the clashes between the extremist groups in the Shia and Sunni communities.

Although Sunni Tehrik supporters have often been accused of involvement in violent clashes with some other Sunni groups over the control of mosques, the party has no history of any direct involvement in clashes with Shia Muslims.

In fact, some of the senior members of the Sunni Tehrik have accused an extremist Sunni faction of involvement in Maulana Qadri's murder, and have called for police action.

Senior police officials say they have still not been able to solve the murder.

However, some believe that it was an attempt to flare up sectarian violence in the country by involving the large Barelvi Sunni community.