![]() Pakistan police chief sacked From correspondents in Karachi 03jun04 PAKISTAN'S government fired the police chief of the country's largest city today and promised more personnel changes after three days of unrest that has left at least 26 people dead, but confusion deepened over who was behind the violence. Government officials gave conflicting views of the motive for terrorist attacks in Karachi that have stirred mobs of both the Sunni Muslim majority and the Shi'ite minority. One official blamed al-Qaeda, saying it was trying to spark sectarian fighting. The chief minister of Sindh province, Ali Muhammad Maher, met with security chiefs to discuss the worsening situation in the city of 14 million people, triggered by the assassination of a prominent Sunni cleric Sunday and the suicide bombing at a Shi'ite mosque a day later. The death toll in the mosque attack rose to 21 yesterday, after a 30-year-old man died of his injuries. No one has claimed responsibility for either attack. Three days of rioting by Sunni or Shi'ite mobs followed the attacks, with most violence - including gunfire - aimed at hundreds of riot police deployed in different neighbourhoods. Shops, cars, buses and government buildings were set afire. Four people, all civilians, died in exchanges of gunfire. Karachi police chief Asad Malik and two other senior officers were transferred with immediate effect today, police spokesman Mughis Pirzada said. No explanation was given and no replacements announced. "We cannot leave Karachi to the mercy of terrorists and we cannot afford any negligence when the lives and property of people are involved," Maher said. "The police have to work to control the situation and bring Karachi back to normal." Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed promised more "administrative changes" in Sindh province and its capital Karachi within eight to 10 days. The rioters have vented anger at US interests, with mobs chanting "Death to America" and burning KFC and McDonalds restaurants. Anti-US feeling grew in Pakistan after President General Pervez Musharraf allied the country with Washington in the war on terror after September 11, 2001. Police closed roads and took up positions outside the US Consulate, a frequent target of terrorist attacks in recent years, after a Shi'ite group demanding the release of students arrested during the unrest announced plans to demonstrate there. But by early today, no protesters had turned up. Karachi is a flashpoint for Pakistan's religious and ethnic divisions and the city has a history of Sunni-Shi'ite conflict. The metropolis had been showing signs of calm in recent months until a May 7 bombing at a Shi'ite mosque killed 22 people. That attack was followed by violence during by-elections that left 10 dead and a twin car-bombing a week ago near the residence of the US Consul-General that killed a policeman and wounded 40 others. Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad, that the most recent violence was "al-Qaeda related". "There are no Sunnis fighting Shi'ites," Haq said. "There is no sectarian fighting. But the whole purpose behind this is that there should be a Shi'ite-Sunni clash. This is a very well-calculated strategy, which is being implemented by terrorists." Earlier, Abdur Rauf Chaudhry, an Interior Ministry spokesman, refused to speculate on an al-Qaeda role and said, "We think they were sectarian incidents". Only scattered violence was reported today, with groups of youths throwing stones in some places and one vehicle set afire. Shopkeepers closed their shutters and many workers stayed home to protect their lives and vehicles. Police freed about 60 of the 150 people they had detained during the previous three days and kept up heavy patrols.
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