Musharraf 'seeks Karachi peace'

Police are accused of doing little to stop the violence

President Pervez Musharraf is visiting the city of Karachi two weeks after some of Pakistan's worst political violence in years claimed 41 lives.

He praised the government in Sindh province, which he said had peacefully resolved tensions in the city.

Most of those killed in gun battles with followers of Sindh's pro-Musharraf ruling party were opposition activists.

Police were accused of standing by on the orders of the local authorities, who told them not to carry arms.

I commend the Sindh government for resolving the matter peacefully President Musharraf

Opposition parties had been planning a mass rally in Karachi on 12 May in support of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry when violence broke out.

The judge was suspended by Gen Musharraf in March and denies claims he abused his office. The president is accused of trying to stifle the independence of the judiciary in an election year, and protests over the judge have snowballed into a campaign against the government.

Strike off

President Musharraf's trip to Pakistan's largest city came after a potentially violent protest strike scheduled for Friday was called off.

He told a meeting at the Sindh chief minister's official residence: "I commend the Sindh government for resolving the matter peacefully."

The president welcomed efforts by some mostly Pashtun opposition political parties to lower tensions in the city, but accused other opposition parties of "promoting ethnic violence for political ends".

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that will be taken as a reference to the Pakistan People's Party of Benazir Bhutto and the six-party Islamic alliance, the MMA. President Musharraf also promised "peace committees" would be set up to look into ethnic problems in Karachi.

Our correspondent says the violence of 12 May reawakened ethnic tensions in the commercial capital and was seen as a further weakening of the current government's grip on power.

It also led the PPP, thought to be the country's largest party, to pull out of talks that could have seen them form the next government.

The cancellation of Friday's strike was greeted with relief in Karachi and by the government. But our correspondent says some observers believe the events of 12 May could influence the president's political future.