Killings sparked by MP's murder add to environmental and economic woes

A third night of violence has rocked Pakistan's commercial capital, keeping some factories and markets closed, after a spate of killings triggered by the shooting of an MP. The death toll in Karachi climbed to 76 with 100 injured, city police chief Wasim Ahmed said yesterday. About 100 suspects had been arrested in the past three days, he said. ''The day was calm yesterday,'' said Seemi Jamali, who runs the emergency room at Jinnah Hospital. ''Later in the evening, we started receiving gunshot victims and dead bodies.'' The Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, was due to visit Karachi yesterday to reveal a strategy to restore calm, he told reporters in north-western Peshawar. The Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary force deployed across the city, are under orders to shoot suspects on sight, he said. ''There is evidence that those causing trouble in Karachi have links to the Taliban,'' Mr Malik said. Karachi is home to about 18 million people and serves as the Pakistan headquarters for companies such as Citigroup and Unilever. The shootings broke out after Raza Haider, an MP with the city's main party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was assassinated at a mosque on Monday. The Pakistan government is also grappling with widespread floods that have left more than 1500 dead and millions stranded. Floods are forecast to enter the southern province of Sindh during the next two days. Factories in Karachi, the provincial capital, lost 10billion rupees ($236 million) in three days because of the shutdown, said Abdul Majeed, the president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Workers were absent because public transport stayed off the roads, he said. Wholesale markets have lost 12 million rupees of business, said Anis Majeed, the president of the Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association. Supplies will take several days to be restored, he said. Pakistan was losing 5 billion rupees a day in tax revenue because of the floods and the violence in Karachi, the Business Recorder newspaper reported yesterday, citing an unidentified official. Political killings have escalated this year in Karachi, which is used as a refuge by militants fleeing army attacks on the Taliban in the north-west.