Sindh Cabinet dissolved over 'bloody May'

The governor of the southern Pakistan province of Sindh dissolved the provincial cabinet and called an emergency session of parliament Tuesday, after the chief minister quit in the wake of a month of deadly violence in port city Karachi.

Ali Mohammad Maher resigned as chief minister on Monday evening following the "Bloody May" in Karachi, the provincial capital of 14 million people and Pakistan's largest city. "The provincial cabinet has been dissolved," deputy speaker Rahila Tiwana told AFP.

Governor Ishratul Ibad has also summoned the Sindh assembly to meet Wednesday elect a new house leader, Tiwana added. Two suicide bombings of minority Shiite mosques, the assassination of a senior Sunni Muslim cleric, a deadly parcel bomb and the double car bomb attack near the US consul general's residence plus three days of riots killed a total of 51 people.

Karachi's police chief was sacked last week over his failure to stem the violence and subsequent riots. President Pervez Musharraf had pledged "significant steps" to curb further violence, and was reported by an aide to want "heads to roll" in the Sindh administration.

Three candidates are under consideration to replace Maher, all from same ruling coalition of secular parties supporting Musharraf at the federal level. "Karachi is burning and politicians are lobbying for the top slot," said political analyst Tauseef Ahmed, a professor at Karachi's Federal Urdu University.

"It is a crisis situation and the volatile Karachi situation is unlikely to improve with the change." Jamil Yusuf, former head of the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee, said the commercial capital was "sitting on a volcano."

"It's a city where Al-Qaeda is active, directly or indirectly. It's a city where thousands of people have been killed in the name of sect or ethnicity," Yusuf told AFP. "A change in chief minister will not bring qualitative change. President Musharraf must take Karachi seriously."

Karachi has for decades been blighted by bloodletting between rival Islamic sects, ethnic groups and political organisations. In 2002 it bore the brunt of Islamic militant revenge attacks on Western and Christian targets for the United States-led ouster of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and Pakistan's support of the campaign.

US reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped murdered here, two suicide bombers killed 26 people including 11 French technicians outside the Sheraton Hotel and US consulate, Macedonia's honorary consulate was torched and seven Christian charity workers were slaughtered as they worked in their city office.

Pakistani militants linked to Al-Qaeda have been convicted over several of the 2002 attacks.

AFP