Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday assured actions against officials responsible for the violent crackdown on protests in the southern port city of Karachi where one protestor died and dozens were injured. The police action was also condemned by several political parties. 

Thousands of people, mainly supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), marched to government offices in Karachi on Thursday, protesting against the recently passed local bodies' amendment bill by the Sindh provincial government. Police swung batons and fired tear gas shells on protestors, injuring several of them. 

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said in a tweet, “I have taken note of the violence used by Sindh police against MQM's peaceful protest against Sindh's LG law, & have called for a report from Interior Ministry, Sindh CS & Sindh IG. Will take necessary action against those responsible after receiving these reports.”

MQM, an ally of the country’s main ruling party PTI, is a political party with a strong support base among ethnic Mohajirs, who migrated to Pakistan from India post-participation in 1947 and dominate politics in Karachi, the country’s most populous city and the capital of Sindh province. 

The party is one of the vocal critics of the recent amendments in the local bodies’ laws, which significantly curtail the political, financial, and administrative powers of locally elected officials. The Sindh government, however, defended the bill, saying it has been introduced to improve the functioning of the local bodies. 

The provincial government in Sindh on Thursday also contested the MQM claim that the protestor died due to the police action. 

‘It seems he (Aslam) died due to a heart attack and not violence. He was taken to Karachi Institute of Heart Disease and then he was brought here to National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases," Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani was quoted as saying by Dawn. 

(SAM)