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KARACHI: The government will recruit 3,000 extra police in a bid to stem repeated outbreaks of violence in Karachi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Friday.
More than 70 people have died in Karachi as a result of politically motivated killings since Saturday. In recent months, Karachi has suffered the worst such violence in years with 85 people killed after a lawmaker was shot dead in August.
“We will recruit 3,000 more policemen in Karachi,” Rehman Malik told reporters, blaming the violence on organised crime networks.
“Action will be taken against anyone who dares challenge the writ of the state,” he added, but declined to reveal any details.
Malik said that after “drug mafia” and “land-grabbing mafia” the city was now facing “extortion mafia”.
Malik said four murders were reported in the city overnight “but no targeted killings” and urged political parties to work together for peace.
The interior minister of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, said police on Friday killed a notorious robber Qadri Chachar who had a bounty of 1.5 million rupees on his head.
Zulifqar Mirza said police also arrested a wanted “target killer” along with up to 15 other suspects in connection with the recent violence.
Authorities had said previously that more than 80 suspects were rounded up and interrogated over the killings. — AFP
