KARACHI, May 14: The Sindh government on Monday moved to avert what is being widely expected to be an imminent outbreak of ethnic rights in the city by establishing contact with the top leader of the Awami National Party and asking him for a political solution to the deepening crisis.

The provincial authorities banned demonstrations in Karachi and declared a public holiday across Sindh after the weekend violence in the city, which began when the chief justice flew in to address a lawyers’ convention at the High Court on Saturday. The ensuing riots left over 40 people killed and about 150 wounded in the country’s worst political street violence in two decades.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad phoned ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan on Monday and told him in a 15-minute conversation that the provincial government would not allow ethnic strife to mar the city’s peace, according to a press statement released by the Governor House.

The Pakhtun Action Committee gave the Sindh government a 72-hour ultimatum on Sunday when seven people were killed, raising the spectre of bloody ethnic feuding that plagued the city in the 1980s and 1990s.

Mr Khan told Dawn from Islamabad that it was wrong to describe Saturday’s violence and Sunday’s backlash as ethnic riots.

“I insist that it is a political issue and it can be resolved politically by getting all stakeholders to the negotiating table,” he asserted.

He said he told the governor that it was not a conflict between the ANP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

He conceded that he and the governor failed to find a concrete solution to the ongoing crisis over the telephonic conversation.

According to the Governor House press statement, Dr Ibad also contacted various Pakhtun leaders and notables in Karachi and asked for their cooperation.