Fresh violence kills 12 in Karachi, Karachi Stock Exchange closed

KARACHI: Government ordered hundreds of extra paramilitary policemen onto the streets of Karachi on Thursday after a fresh night of political and ethnic violence killed 12 people.

"We have dispatched 500 FC (Frontier Constabulary) troops in Karachi," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad.

The situation also forced an early closure at the Karachi Stock Exchange, because of poor attendance, Mohammad Sohail, chief executive officer of the Topline Securities brokerage, told AFP.

"We closed the stock market after half a day due to the deteriorated law and order situation in the city. We did not open the market for the afternoon session because there was very small attendance," he said.

The fresh violence erupted after provincial minister Zulfiqar Mirza, from the main ruling Pakistan People's Party, criticised its ex coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and its leader Altaf Hussain.

MQM has called for nationwide protests over Mirza's criticism.

Roads were deserted on Thursday, with minimal traffic in normally bustling commercial and residential areas of Karachi, where most shopping malls, markets and restaurants were closed.

"At least 12 people, including a paramilitary Rangers soldier, were killed overnight," city police chief Saud Mirza told AFP.

He said 21 people were injured and that more than a dozen vehicles had been set ablaze in different parts of the city, adding that police had rounded up around 160 suspects.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011