Lahore, Oct 9(ANI): The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called on political parties to disband private militias and disarm criminal gangs to end the bloodshed in Karachi.
The police in the port city has been politicised, fails to take action when required, and are ill-equipped to deal with gangs, The Express Tribune quoted Zohra Yusuf, chairperson of the commission, as telling a news conference.
Over 1,000 people have been killed in violence in Karachi this year, including 100 in a single week in August.
The gang wars have been linked to ethnic tensions between the Mohajirs, the Urdu-speaking majority represented by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and Pashtun migrants affiliated to the Awami National Party (ANP).
"All of the main political parties in Karachi shoulder considerable blame for their consistent and prolonged failure to prevent the loss of human life and of property," the HRCP said in a report compiled by its fact finding team.
The commission also criticised the government, saying: "The state has miserably and utterly failed in its responsibility to safeguard the people's right to life."
Karachi is in a state of turmoil, it said, warning that there is potential for infinitely more chaos.
The commission recommended that the police department must be "depoliticised" and the law of the land must be invoked without exception "for any instigation to violence".
Karachi must be purged of all weapons, both licensed or otherwise, the HRCP said, calling for "total deweaponisation". (ANI)
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