Bomb explosion rocks Karachi amid strike<\/p>\n
KARACHI (AP): A bomb explosion wracked the restive port city
\nof Karachi on Wednesday as a strike by two ethnic groups
\nparalyzed most parts of southern Sindh province.<\/p>\n
The bomb exploded in Kharadar, a congested southern
\nneighborhood, wounding two people and destroying several
\nvehicles, police said.<\/p>\n
The army was called in to quell violence in Karachi, where
\nlate on Tuesday unidentified gunmen began firing on passenger
\nbuses and killed two people.<\/p>\n
Rioters, chanting anti-government slogans, also set ablaze at
\nleast 24 vehicles early on Wednesday and overnight as gunmen warned
\npeople to keep their businesses shut to make the strike a
\nsuccess.<\/p>\n
The ethnic Muttahida Qami Movement and Sindhi nationalist Jeay
\nSindh called the strike to protest a severe water shortage in
\nSindh province, where Karachi is the capital.<\/p>\n
In recent months, there have been several protests and strikes
\nin Karachi - Pakistan's major port city and main commercial
\ncenter - posing a serious challenge to the military-led
\ngovernment, which wants to revive the country's ailing economy.<\/p>\n
The government, which banned protests and rallies soon after
\nit seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999, has been
\ntrying to stem the violence, saying Pakistan cannot afford it.<\/p>\n
But militant ethnic and religious groups, including the MQM
\nand the Jeay Sindh, have ignored the government's pleas and
\ndefied the ban.<\/p>\n
The MQM represents Urdu-speaking people who migrated from
\nIndia when the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947. Jeay Sindh
\nrepresents indigenous Sindhis.<\/p>\n
Traditional rivals, the two groups have set aside their
\ndifferences and accused the government of not giving Sindh its
\ndue share of water.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, army and paramilitary troops patrolled the
\ndeserted streets of Karachi in vehicles mounted with machine
\nguns.<\/p>\n
Most business, markets, offices and educational institutions
\nwere shuttered as small groups of youngsters burned tires and
\nthrew stones to block roads. Police arrested at least 30
\nprotesters.<\/p>\n
"The government will not tolerate any disturbance in law and
\norder," Mukhtar Ahmed, home secretary of Sindh told The
\nAssociated Press. "The army has been called out to protect the
\nlife and property of the people."<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a media rights group on Wednesday denounced the
\nrecent closure of a newspaper in northwest Pakistan and the
\narrests of three of its journalists on blasphemy charges.<\/p>\n
Police closed down the regional daily Mohasib on June 5 after
\nit published an article entitled The Beard and Islam in which a
\nwell-known poet criticized a fundamentalist claim that good
\nMuslims must wear beards.<\/p>\n
The Paris-based media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders
\nsaid on Wednesday that it sent a letter to the governor of
\nPakistan's North West Frontier Province criticizing the
\nnewspaper's closure and the arrests as violations of press
\nfreedom.<\/p>\n
The article's publication led to a demonstration by Muslim
\nfundamentalists on June 8 in North West Frontier Province, which
\nborders Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. During the demonstration,
\nclerics called for the death penalty against the article's
\npublishers.<\/p>\n
That same day, police arrested managing editor Shahid Chaudry,
\nnews editor Shakil Tahirkheli and sub-editor Raja Muhammad
\nHaroon, on blasphemy charges. Police confirmed on Wednesday that
\nthe men were still in custody.<\/p>\n
It was the second time this year a newspaper had been shut
\ndown on the basis of Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law,
\nwhich remains on the books despite opposition from human rights
\ngroups and religious minorities.<\/p>\n
Under the law, those convicted of taking the Muslim prophet
\nMohammed's name in vain or other religious offenses must be put
\nto death. Many have been imprisoned or killed by zealots after
\nthey were accused of blasphemy, but so far no one has been
\nexecuted.<\/p>\n
"We are now in a situation of what we call the Talibanization
\nof this province," said Vincent Brossel, an official at Reporters
\nWithout Borders.<\/p>",
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