Violent protests between pro-government activists and supporters of recently suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Methods
Political and ethnic riots
Parties
Pakistan Peoples Party
Awami National Party
Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party
Muttahida Qaumi Movement
Pakistan Muslim League (Q)
Lead figures
Benazir Bhutto
Asfandyar Wali Khan
Mahmood Khan Achakzai
Altaf Hussain
Casualties
Death(s)
58[1][2]
Arrested
Waseem Akhtar
The 12 May Karachi riots, also known as Black Saturday riots, were a series of violent clashes between rival political activists in Karachi.[3] The violence resulted in 58 killings of ethnic Pashtuns.[2][4] The unrest began as the recently suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry arrived at the Jinnah International Airport on 12 May 2007. Gunfights and clashes erupted across the provincial capital as lawyers, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) activists, who supported the judge, and the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists took to the streets against each other. Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-azam PMLQ and MQM party workers, with support from president and military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf, were accused of launching highly coordinated attacks against lawyers, ANP, PTI, PPP, and news channels, especially Aaj News.[5] Government machinery was used to block all major roads. Police was accomplice and a silent spectator to the violence. News media was attacked at Guru Mandir (Business Recorder Road) when MQM activists began firing at Aaj News headquarters which was shown on live television.[6]
Chaudhry's supporters had announced a public rally to welcome the judge while at the same time, the MQM also announced a demonstration of their own to protest against the politicisation of the issue of judge's suspension. The MQM made plans to deliberately converge at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah where the chief justice was to make an appearance to address a lawyers' convention and a bar association meeting[7] at the 50th anniversary of the Sindh High Court Bar Association.[8]
^Cite error: The named reference accurate_fatalities was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abChristophe Jaffrelot (2016). The Pakistan Paradox:Instability And Resilience. Fifty-eight Pashtuns died and accordign to Zia-ur-Rehman that was a "watershed moment" because "on that day the Pashtuns of Karachi realized they were not welcome in the city."
^Graham, Stephen (13 May 2007). "Opposition to Pakistani president grows". Forbes. Archived from the original on 16 May 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2007.
^Huma Yusuf (2012). Conflict Dynamics in Karachi(PDF). MQM party workers were accused of launching highly coordinated attacks against ANP and PPP supporters, killing forty-three people, primarily Pashtuns. Four- teen MQM workers were also killed in retaliatory actions
^Huma Yusuf (2012). Conflict Dynamics in Karachi(PDF). MQM party workers were accused of launching highly coordinated attacks against ANP and PPP supporters, killing forty-three people, primarily Pashtuns. Four- teen MQM workers were also killed in retaliatory actions
^Associated Press (13 May 2007). "Riots in Karachi leave dozens dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
^Syed Mohsin Naqvi (12 May 2007). "Deadly violence erupts in Pakistan". CNN. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
^"Three shot dead in clashes in Pakistan". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Associated Press. 12 May 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
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