(8 Mar 1995) English/Nat
Authorities have closed the U-S consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, after two U-S diplomats were killed in an ambush. A third diplomat was wounded.
Police say two gunmen got out of a yellow taxi and opened fire with A-K-47 assault rifles, shattering the van's front and back windshields.
The city has been tense with recent political and religious violence, and scores of people have been killed in the last two months alone.
APTV reports on the volatile security situation in Karachi.
The authorities in the troubled Pakistani city of Karachi are warning that it's on the brink of anarchy.
Political and religious violence in the city has been on the increase in the city since the army withdrew from the streets last December.
Armed guards are the norm for the few in Karachi who are able to afford them. But the violence has touched almost everyone.
In February, eleven people died when the mosque was attacked by four gunmen from a rival Muslim faction.
Asim Maskoor was the first to attend to the injured.
SOUND BITE:
"It was terrible. This is my first sight - I've seen before firing and something like that, but I never saw so much flesh and blood .. and in a mosque."
SUPER CAPTION: Asim Maskoor / Witness to the mosque killings
The attack also left seven people critically injured. The gunmen who fired into the mosque were Sunni Muslims - long time rivals of the Shias.
Their hatred of one another is nationwide, but the violence focused on Karachi is symptomatic of the anarchy that reigns here.
The bitterness has taken away Karachi's once respected position as Pakistani's most prosperous city, noted for its nightlife, commercial property and sophistication.
Now, it's better known for selective assassination and sectarian massacres.
Karachi's police look increasingly like an army. Seven-thousand Paramilitary Rangers back the city's police. They now undergo special training to combat terrorism. The city has 20 armoured personnel carriers and 25 more are on order.
But the main terror for Karachi's residents are the street battles between two rival factions of the foremost political party- M-Q-M.
They represent the Urdu speaking refugees who arrived in Pakistan from India, and now comprise over 60% of Karachis population. They demand justice and equality for their people. They say until they are given a share of political power, the fighting is unlikely to end.
SOUNDBITE:
"So I may say that if you want to solve the political problems through undemocratic process or through military or paramilitary troops the result must become negative."
SUPER CAPTION: Fazi Khalid, M-Q-M spokesman
The religious and political fighting is leading to the collapse of the city's infrastructure.
Despite the troubles, migrants have flocked here from all over Pakistan, almost doubling the population in the last ten years. Now the city cannot cope.
The roads, water and electricity supplies are falling apart.
For some, Karachi is a city ruled by terrorism. But for most of the city's residents, Karachi is simply where they live. A home they cannot leave.
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