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| Pak Rangers issued shoot-to-kill orders | | | Islamabad | Dec 28
Pakistani paramilitary troops were today issued ‘shoot-to-kill’ orders to tackle rioters in the southern Sindh province amidst reports of fresh violence following the assassination of former Premier Benazir Bhutto.
In Karachi, the capital of Sindh province - a traditional stronghold of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), mobs looted three banks before setting them on fire.
Over 14 people were killed in violent protests in various parts of the country that erupted after Bhutto was shot by a suicide attacker after she addressed a rally in Rawalpindi yesterday. The dead included three PPP workers who were killed during a clash with police at Dadu in Sindh on Friday.
The paramilitary Pakistan Rangers were given "shoot-to-kill" orders to tackle protesters in Sindh that witnessed the fiercest protests.
Rangers spokesman Major Asad Ali said the rioters "did too much" last night and had damaged government property and harassed the people.
Ali said the "shoot-to-kill" orders were applicable only in Sindh, where 16,000 Rangers personnel had been deployed to deal with the violence.
Protesters, most of them workers of PPP, vandalised commercial properties and shops, burnt trains and railways stations and clashed with police at many places. Much of their ire was directed against the offices and property of the ruling PML-Q party that backs President Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistanis shocked by the assassination poured out on the streets for angry protests throughout the night and the violent protests continued today. |
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