Pakistan Drug Raids Lead to Ethnic Riots; 50 Killed

At least 50 people died Sunday when raids for heroin, hashish and illegal arms in Pushtun neighborhoods of Karachi touched off demonstrations by the fierce tribesmen and led to ethnic rioting, witnesses and hospital officials said.

At least 182 people were reported injured. One death was reported Saturday night.

Police fired on rioters Sunday, and it was not clear how many of the casualties resulted from police action and how many from communal clashes.

Soldiers were called in to patrol trouble spots in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city with 5.1 million people. The government imposed a curfew in four city districts--Orangi, Qasba, Nazimabad and Lalukhet.

Shantytowns set ablaze in the rioting burned into Sunday evening and witnesses said at least 400 homes were destroyed or damaged.

50 Bodies at Hospitals

Doctors at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital said 17 bodies arrived there from Orangi neighborhood, home to about 500,000 people, including Pushtuns, Biharis and Urdu-speaking communities.

Doctors at Qatar Hospital said 33 bodies were received there. Some of the injured--at those two hospitals, the Civil Hospital and Piracha Hospital--were described as in critical condition.

A government statement put Sunday’s death toll at 40 and injured at 156. It said deaths included five people killed in a bomb blast, but gave no details.

Doctors said most of those killed had gunshot wounds and that the injured included stabbing victims.

Witnesses said the rioting, which broke out early Sunday, involved Pushtu-speaking Pushtuns, Biharis and Urdu-speakers. Police used clubs, tear gas and finally gunfire to disperse rioters, they said.

Communal rioting between Pushtuns and Urdu-speakers killed 51 people early last month, and tensions remained high.

506 Pounds of Heroin

The violence arose from police sweeps beginning Friday through Orangi and the predominantly Pushtun Sohrab Goth neighborhood. The government’s “Operation Cleanup” netted 506 pounds of heroin, an unspecified but “large” quantity of hashish and other drugs, arms and bombs.

Pushtuns are traditionally semi-nomadic tribespeople from northwest Pakistan, famous for their fierce resistance to British colonialism, and from neighboring Afghanistan. They control a significant part of drug smuggling and arms running in Pakistan.

Pushtuns took to the streets to protest the drug raids, erecting barricades and pelting security forces with stones. Witnesses said one person was stoned to death Saturday night.

Pushtuns set fire Sunday to seven buses, including four state-owned vehicles, and two private cars. The four government buses were burned when a mob attacked the bus depot in Nazimabad. A store at the depot also went up in flames, witnesses said.

The Pushtun rioters set fire to homes belonging to Urdu-speakers and Biharis in Orangi. Urdu-speakers and Biharis then took to the streets and clashed with the Pushtuns, setting Pushtun homes on fire.

The government statement said: “In order to demonstrate their resentment against the cleanup operation, miscreants backed up by those who indulged in narcotics and unauthorized weapons trade incited the local population.” It did not specifically name the Pushtun community, but identified the Biharis and Urdu-speakers as the groups attacked.