By IANS,
Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court Thursday asked all political parties to expel criminals from their ranks in a verdict over the lawlessness in the port city of Karachi, where over hundreds of people were killed in ethnic, sectarian and political violence this year.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had taken suo motu notice following over the killing of 306 people in violence in Karachi in August, reported Xinhua.
The chief justice delivered verdict on the notice and quoted reports of intelligence agencies saying that some criminal groups had political backing and that such elements had become part of political parties.
The court said that banned outfits including Sunni Tehreek are involved in extortion, while there are allegations of the same offence against parties such as the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Islamic group Jamat-e-Islami (JI), Pashtoon ethnic Awami National Party (ANP) and the ethnic Urdu-speaking Mutahida Qaumi Movement.
Former judges and legal experts have welcomed the apex court verdict and asked the government to implement it to ensure peace in Karachi, the country’s commercial hub with nearly 18 million people.