KARACHI, Aug 31: Questioning effectiveness of the police, Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies amid unabated killings in the metropolis for weeks, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Friday appealed to the authorities concerned to take practical steps to protect the life and property of the citizens.

Speaking at a press conference at the party’s headquarters, MQM leader Raza Haroon said that half-hearted action by the federal and Sindh governments in this regard showed that they did not consider it their primary responsibility to protect the life and property of the citizens.

Referring to the killing of four MQM workers within three days, he wondered as to why targeted killings had been continuing unabated while thousands of personnel from the police, Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies were deployed and patrolling the roads and streets of the city. “How is it possible that terrorists armed with sophisticated weapons vanish into thin air after killing MQM workers and other citizens? Why is it that not a single killer has been arrested so far?”

He said that the MQM had protested with the government and the administration at every level over the worsening law and order situation, but it appeared that innocent citizens had been left at the mercy of killers and terrorists, and there was no one to stop them.

Accompanied by other MQM leaders, Mr Haroon said that the only crime of the four slain workers was that they were making efforts to defuse sectarian tension on the appeal of the party leader, Altaf Hussain.

“We are sorely grieved over the killing of our workers but we are making an impassioned plea for patience for the sake of the country’s stability,” he said.

He appealed to party workers and supporters not to get provoked, and foil the conspiracy against Pakistan by remaining calm and peaceful.

He said that the MQM would continue to raise its voice for the integrity and security of the country and for unity and sectarian harmony among the people. The MQM would not stop supporting the oppressed people of the country, he added.

He urged the people, especially religious scholars, to take notice of the way the MQM was being punished for its efforts towards sectarian harmony and bringing stability in the country.

Mr Haroon also asked MQM workers to remain cautious and avoid sitting at public places to foil terrorists’ designs.

He appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and other authorities concerned to get the continuous killings of MQM workers and all other innocent citizens stopped.

“The killers should be given exemplary punishment,” he said, adding that concrete and practical steps should be taken to protect the life and property of citizens.

In reply to a question about a statement by Pakistan People’s Party’s Karachi division chief Abdul Qadir Patel in which the latter held the MQM responsible for the city situation, another MQM leader present at the press conference, Wasim Aftab, said that Mr Patel being his party’s divisional chief should not act like a patron of the land, drug, extortion and crime mafia.