Provincial lawmaker Raza Haider, 35, from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was assassinated in Karachi on August 2, 2010. Haider was killed in a drive-by shooting in downtown Karachi, where political and ethnic assassinations have fanned increasing tensions. The city of 18 million, that has been largely spared the Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked bomb attacks that have dogged northwest Pakistan, is plagued by ethnic and sectarian killings, crime and kidnappings.[imagebrowser id=9383]