2007 Karachi Riots - Sources of Contention

Sources of Contention

. Human Rights Watch, a non-government affiliated human rights watch dog based in New York City, recently issued a statement indicating that "This can either be due to the incompetence of the government, or its complicity." Their statement went on, "The sequence of events leading up to this violence, including statements from the provincial authorities and the arrest of hundreds of opposition activists in the last few days, indicates that the government, acting through its coalition partners, has deliberately sought to foment violence in Karachi."

According to documents obtained by the BBC after the event, government security measures on the day of the planned demonstrations included the instruction that "no police personnel should carry any kind of weapon during the law and order duty with the rally".

Of note, among police officials were deployed for security duties in Karachi, only 21 in the entire city were armed. BBC analysts have indicated that the way police were deployed indicates that they were meant to prevent people from gaining access to the airport or to the Sindh High Court.

Read more about this topic:  2007 Karachi Riots

Famous quotes containing the words sources of, sources and/or contention:

    “My profession brought me in contact with various minds. Earnest, serious discussion on the condition of woman enlivened my business room; failures of banks, no dividends from railroads, defalcations of all kinds, public and private, widows and orphans and unmarried women beggared by the dishonesty, or the mismanagement of men, were fruitful sources of conversation; confidence in man as a protector was evidently losing ground, and women were beginning to see that they must protect themselves.”
    —Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)

    “The American grips himself, at the very sources of his consciousness, in a grip of care: and then, to so much of the rest of life, is indifferent. Whereas, the European hasn’t got so much care in him, so he cares much more for life and living.”
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    “The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed. The experience of every-day life fully proves that the armed individual is invariably anxious to try his strength. The same is historically true of governments. Really peaceful countries do not waste life and energy in war preparations, with the result that peace is maintained.”
    —Emma Goldman (1869–1940)