Karachi situation: Army voices concern for the first time

Pakistan army expressed its deep concern for the first time on Monday over the law and order situation in Karachi. In its 141st Corps Commanders' conference held at General Headquarters, the generals discussed in detail the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi and its grave ramifications or implications for the national economy.
According to ISPR, the participants of the conference anticipated that the measures recently undertaken by the government would help redress the situation. The conference was briefed in detail regarding the ongoing law enforcement operations in Kurram and Mohmand agencies within the perspective of evolving security dynamic. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani chaired the meeting.
Defence Sources further disclosed that General Kayani also called meeting of Army Selection Board on Tuesday (today) to approve the promotion cases of 76 Brigadiers. It has been learnt that 20 Brigadiers would be elevated to the post of Major General against the available posts.
AFP adds: Pakistan's military voiced concern for the first time on Monday over ethnic and political violence in the country's financial capital that has killed 800 people so far this year. The military, which has ruled the country for more than half its existence - mostly recently from 1999 until the restoration of civilian rule in 2008 - spoke out after generals met at army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi.
"The forum expressed concern over the law and order situation in Karachi and its ramifications or implications on the national economy," the military said in a statement after army chief General Ashfaq Kayani met his top generals. Parts of the Arabian Sea port city have become battlegrounds with authorities struggling to stem the violence, blamed on activists from political parties representing competing ethnic groups, from spiralling.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says 800 people, most of them poor, have died since January, including 300 last month alone. Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Karachi that the government had taken steps to clear out stockpiles of illegal weapons by cancelling all firearm licences at the end of the month, forcing owners to reapply.
"At present some licence holders have illegally acquired hundreds of weapons on a single licence, which will end next month," said Malik. "From September anyone caught with a weapon with the old licences will be dealt with seriously. Such people could be tried in anti-terrorism courts and get sentences of seven to 14 years," he added.
Malik said the government's action would bring "a permanent peace" to Karachi, which has a population of 18 million and accounts for about one fifth of the country's entire gross domestic product. Previous government promises to confiscated stockpiles of unlicensed weapons in Karachi have come to nothing. A tentative calm has held since the government last week deployed hundreds of extra security forces in troubled neighbourhoods.