QUETTA: The business community in Balochistan has condemned violence against Baloch businessmen in Karachi and appealed to the federal government to protect the interests of businessmen.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Balochistan Anjuman-e-Ittehad President Rahim Kakar alleged that Baloch businessmen settled in Karachi for many years were now being subjected to ‘government-backed ethnic violence’.
Kakar said five Baloch people had been killed and dozens other injured in Saturday’s clashes in Karachi, and called the violence an effort to expel Pashtun businessmen from the city. He said the burial of the five victims in Karachi showed that Pashtuns considered the city their home.
“We believe Karachi does not belong to a single ethnic community. It is the business capital of Pakistan and people from all four provinces should be allowed to work there fearlessly,” Kakar said. He regretted the Balochistan government’s silence on the killing of its people by ‘certain elements’ in Karachi.
He also held the federal government responsible for the recent ethnic clashes, saying it had also made no efforts to protect the Baloch people in Karachi.
“We denounce President Asif Ali Zardari’s statement that all visitors to Karachi should be registered and will not accept the registration of the countrymen in their own cities,” he said, adding the government should register those “who came from India 60 years ago and their citizenship is still controversial”.
He said Baloch businessmen would use democratic modes of protest to express solidarity with their Baloch brethren working in Karachi
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