Karachi riots continue

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32965, 11 July 1972, Page 13

Karachi riots continue

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

KARACHI, July 10.

Unconfirmed reports say that at least 12 persons died yesterday in some of the worst riots Karachi has experienced. More than 100 other persons are said to have been injured in further clashes between Urdu and Sindhi-speaking Pakistanis.

Troops are patrolling the streets, but in the Jehangir Road and Tinhatti areas of the city, mobs are still reported to be setting up roadblocks and looting wine shops. In Hyderabad, two persons were killed and at least 12 were injured when the police opened fire on rioters. A 10hour curfew has been impose on the city, and on Karachi. In Rawalpindi, for the second day in succession, President Bhutto appealed yesterday for an end to the bloodshed; during an emergency meeting of the Cabinet, he promised that he would tour Karachi and other parts of his home province, Sind, at the end of a special session of the National Assembely today. According to a Government

i spokesman, the Cabinet as- ’ sures advocates of Urdu and ' Sindhi, the rival languages in • Karachi, that “justice will be done to all.” The Cabinet : called on the population to do nothing to aggravate the situ- ; ation before today’s Assembly ! meeting. : The rioting began on Fri- ■ day, after the passage of a ‘ bill making Sindhi the official language of the Sind. Urdu, • the official language of three • other Pakistan provinces, is ■ the national language of the ■ Constitution, and is spoken ’ by the majority in Karachi i and by about 30 per cent of ■ the 8.5 million people living : in Sind. Most Urdu speakers in ! Karachi and Sind are refugees of the 1947 partition of the . sub-continent.