Pakistani PM rules out army’s Karachi deployment

Pakistani Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, has ruled out deployment of army in the country's financial hub of Karachi, where violence has claimed 80 lives in five days. Gilani’s statement came a day after army chief General, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said that if requested, the military was ready to assist the civilian authorities to control the violence in Karachi. Karachi, the city of 18 million people, has been wracked by violence over the last week that has left scores of people dead. On Sunday, another 11 people were killed in different parts of the metropolis. There has been a call for military intervention from several quarters, including some business groups within Karachi itself. The Pashtoon ethnic Awami National Party is also calling for military operation to restore normalcy in Karachi. Gilani said that while it was the government in Sindh province, of Karachi is the capital, to call the army, he believed that the violence in Karachi could be dealt with by the law-enforcement agencies in the province. Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has, however, suggested that the provincial government had absolutely no intention of inviting the army to clean up its mess. The growing chorus for military intervention from some elements of the Karachi business community and a few prominent politicians seems to have alarmed the ruling Peoples Party and the opposition Muslim League-N alike. On Saturday, the army chief reportedly said that “Karachi is the jugular vein of the country's economy and it will be a great injustice if the deteriorating law and order situation is allowed to continue for a longer period”. Gen Kayani's comments came after the recent spike in violence that has seen about 900 people killed since the beginning of the year, nearly 300 of whom have died since the beginning of July.