ISLAMABAD, May 13: Chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party Benazir Bhutto has urged the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court to take action over the killings in Karachi and the absence of law-enforcement agencies from places where incidents of violence had taken place.

A statement issued by the PPP’s secretariat quoted her as saying that the regime’s involvement in state terrorism was obvious, adding that it had failed to protect the citizens. She said that it was time that the higher judiciary showed the same courage as the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice to save the country from plunging into a civil war and destruction.

Ms Bhutto feared that the regime was creating local warlords to divide the country between different armed groups and militias. She said it appeared that tribal areas had been doled out to the pro-Taliban forces, Malakand and nearby area of Bajaur was handed to the Tehrik-i-Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM), parts of Punjab to the Chaudhrys and Islamabad to the Imam of Lal Masjid.

She said that the country and people were crying for stability and security, which the PPP had provided during its tenure.

Ms Bhutto said that it was a national disgrace that young men lay dead or dying in the streets of Karachi, which were stained with blood, while ambulances were attacked. She also condemned the attack on the offices of private TV channel Aaj in Karachi and demanded the arrest of the alleged Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists involved in the attack.

The PPP leader said that attacks on political parties, the press and judiciary were aimed at destroying the democratic hopes and aspirations of the people. She said that the anti-people forces would not succeed and their actions had disgraced and exposed them.

She said that during the Karachi by-elections, the police did nothing as MQM actvists brazenly rigged election results and beat up opposition supporters. The failure of the federal government, the judiciary and the Election Commission to intervene and take action against the shootings, the beatings and the rigging had emboldened the MQM.

Benazir Bhutto also spoke with family members of several people killed in Karachi violence on Saturday and also inquired about the health of the injured people.

The press release said that she told them the nation saluted their courage and sacrifice in the face of the worst kind of tyranny.