Ethnic battles in Pakistan escalate as rivals battle on Karachi's streets

KARACHI, PAKISTAN - Rival ethnic groups battled with guns in this hub of economic growth Sunday, an ominous turn in a political crisis that started with the ouster of Pakistan's top judge. The death toll from a weekend of fighting rose to 41.

Funeral processions were accompanied by gunfights between ethnic Pashtuns and Urdu-speaking supporters of a pro-government party. Gunmen fired on ambulances, killing at least one driver, and the bullet-ridden bodies of some victims were found tied and blindfolded.

The fighting has marked a serious escalation in a crisis that began when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf suspended the independent-minded Supreme Court chief on March 9. It has raised the specter of a return to ethnic bloodshed in Karachi, a port city of 15 million people at the center of Pakistan's fast-growing economy.

The government deployed 15,000 security forces to the city Sunday, with orders to shoot any rioters on sight.

Opposition leaders said such action would only inflame tensions. "We condemn this. It is taking us toward civil war," said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the Pakistan People's Party, a leading opposition group.

Leaders of the Muttahida Qami Movement, a coalition partner of Musharraf's known as MQM, blamed the opposition for provoking the fight. But opposition leaders said the MQM had carried out premeditated attacks on demonstrators and allowed security forces to stand by and watch while gunmen fired into crowds.

The Karachi-based MQM draws its main support from the Mohajirs, Muslims who fled India after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

Most of the victims in the weekend violence appeared to be Pashtun, police and a doctor said. Hospital officials said the death toll mounted to 41 with about 150 wounded.

Opposition parties have called for a nationwide strike today to protest the government's handling of the crisis.

WASHINGTON POST AND ASSOCIATED PRESS