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Karachi, Pakistan shut down by strike

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Monday, May 14, 2007

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After two days of violence in Karachi, Pakistan that left 41 killed and at least 150 injured, a general strike has been called in the city. The violence erupted as suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry reached the city to address a rally of supporters on Saturday.

Shops are closed and traffic is very limited after opposition leaders called for a nationwide strike. Officials said the strike is being observed across southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. The capitals of Pakistan's other three provinces, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta are also seeing strikes.

"There is a complete strike in Karachi," said Azhar Farooqi, the city police chief. "The city is totally paralysed. Shops are closed and very little public transport is on the roads. People are scared," he told Reuters.

"Today's strike is a referendum against [President] Musharraf, and we think he should step down as soon as possible," said Ameerul Azeem, a spokesperson for a coalition of religious opposition parties.

Police have been given the authority to shoot rioters on sight. Public gatherings of more than five people have been banned.

Police were on the sidelines as pro-government and opposition groups clashed over the weekend. The violence this weekend was some of the worst since Pervez Musharraf took power in 1999.

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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License


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