Pakistan asks illegal immigrants to leave Karachi

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik Saturday asked all illegal immigrants to leave the violence-hit Karachi in a month or face a major crackdown.

Karachi, the port city in south Pakistan, has recently seen bomb attacks and targeted killings of political activities, which has claimed lives of up to 100 people in two weeks, according to police.

The powerful group Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has sought the help of the army and paramilitary force to check the targeted killings of the party. MQM says that some 30 of its activists have been killed in Karachi in recent days.

Malik said that there are about 2 million illegal immigrants in Karachi and warned them to leave the country within 30 days otherwise a crackdown will be carried out against them.

He said the government has decided to take action against the illegal immigrants as some foreign militants are also operating in Karachi.

Malik said that the government has decided to launch campaign for deweaponisation in Karachi to avoid incidents of firing. He said that paramilitary Rangers have also been deployed in the Metropolis to back Police to main law and order.

He said to curb the menace of terrorism and extremism, the government will carry out surgical operations on the basis of intelligence reports. He said a strong and sound monitoring system is being placed in the city.

Source: Xinhua