Thousands bury Karachi victims, toll rises to 48
Thousands of Pakistanis attended funerals Monday for victims of a
bombing that killed 48 people in a Shiite Muslim area of Karachi, the
latest in a series of devastating attacks ahead of elections.
The bomb exploded in Abbas Town as worshippers left mosques and
ripped through two apartment blocks, setting one of them on fire and
trapping people beneath piles of rubble. Survivors are being housed
temporarily in schools.
It was the deadliest bombing in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and
business hub, since at least 43 people died in an attack on Shiite
worshippers in December 2009.
There has been no claim of responsibility. But suspicion will likely
fall on banned Sunni extremist organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has
claimed major attacks on Shiites in the city of Quetta, and on the
Pakistani Taliban.
Thousands of men, women and children, many of them wearing black
headbands, beat their chests and heads and sobbed as eight coffins
passed by at the start of the first funeral, an AFP reporter said.
Traffic was light as educational institutions, businesses and markets
closed after the local government announced one day of mourning and
Shiite groups three days of mourning for those killed in Sunday's
bombing.
At least 4,000 people turned out for the funerals, police officers
estimated.
Karachi contributes 42 percent of Pakistan's GDP but the city is
plagued by sectarian, ethnic and political violence, which last year
killed more than 2,200 people and which routinely forces business
closures.
Rights groups have strongly criticised the government for failing to
prevent sectarian murders and bombings or to bring to justice those
responsible.
"Terrorists are killing us but the government is not taking any
action to eliminate them," said Mohsin Ali, 29, a Shiite whose elder
brother was killed.
"How long will we keep losing our children, our relatives?" Survivors
could be seen searching for personal items and belongings such as
jewellery from the rubble of their apartments.
"The government should provide us with arms to deal with terrorists
if their agencies are unable to bring them to book," said Azam Khan, a
Sunni Muslim who said he had taken several of the dead to hospital.
"We will vote for those who eliminate these terrorists. We are not
ready to be hoodwinked by empty slogans any more." Sindh provincial
police surgeon Aslam Pechuho told AFP the death toll had risen to 48
from an overnight 45, with around 200 wounded.
So far hospitals have released only 13 bodies for burial with the
rest yet to be formally identified, officials said.
Pakistan's parliament is due to dissolve in two weeks in preparation
for elections. But rising violence against Shiites, who make up around
20 percent of the 180 million population, has raised serious questions
about security. "The unfortunate reality is that things could take a
turn for the worse as tensions increase ahead of the approaching general
elections," The News newspaper wrote in an editorial on Monday.
Last year was the deadliest on record for Shiites in Pakistan with
more than 400 killed, according to Human Rights Watch. The Supreme Court
ordered authorities to come up with a strategy to protect Shiites after
bomb attacks in the southwest on January 10 and February 16 killed
nearly 200 people.
AFP |