Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has urged senior leaders of all political parties to help restore peace in the violence-hit southern port city of Karachi.
On Wednesday, Sharif met senior leaders of all political parties and businessmen in Karachi and sought their proposals for the restoration of peace to the volatile city.
“I am deeply concerned over the violence in Karachi and will take action which can restore peace,” Sharif told a gathering of leading businessmen and traders.
The prime minister insisted that his government would give more power to the paramilitary rangers to conduct targeted operation against miscreants.
“The operation will be without any discrimination to clear the city of the criminal elements,” Sharif noted.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the dominant political force in Karachi, has already called for handing over the city to the army to deal with the miscreants.
Sectarian, political and ethnic violence in Karachi has killed hundreds of people in Pakistanâ„¢s main commercial hub so far this year.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said in a recent report that targeted attacks claimed the lives of nearly 1,800 people across the troubled city in the first six months of this year.
Karachi has experienced a fresh spate of violence and targeted killings over the past few months.
The city is home to numerous ethnic groups and has been hit by clashes between rival ethnic and political factions in the past two decades.
Thousands of people have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001 when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US on the so-called war against terrorism, according to local media.
Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.
JR/KA
Republished from: Press TV