Shops were shuttered, weddings were cancelled and daily life was on hold for tens of millions of Pakistanis on Saturday as the nation mourned the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Following the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto, violence continued on third day in Karachi and three persons were killed and 24 injured in a firing incident of Lyari.
The firing incidents occurred in various areas of Lyari - Chakiwara, Baghdadi, Kalri, Kalakot, Khadda Market and Lea Market - in which three persons including 26-year-old Ashraf, were killed and 16 injured. They were taken to Civil Hospital.
Burned cars marked the empty streets of Bhutto's home city of Larkana after rioting following her funeral Friday.
At least 45 people have died since Bhutto's assassination in Rawalpindi Thursday. Paramilitary forces were told to "shoot on sight" those causing civil disturbances.Red alert has been announced in province of Sind,Punjab,NWFP,Pakistan.
Many banks had been vandalized and an estimated 500 vehicles burned in the region, reported Press Trust of India, dozen people died when rioters burned a factory and a bank in Khairpur.
Thousands of mourners gathered publicly Saturday in Lahore and Rawalpindi, where marchers clashed with police who fired back with tear gas.
Central Karachi was largely quiet as residents observed the mourning period, which ends Sunday. Pakistan Dawn reported.
On the second day of official mourning for the slain opposition leader, most people were unable to buy food or petrol, with almost all shops, fuel
stations, banks and offices closed down.
The streets of the country’s main cities — Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar — were largely empty and in many places there were scars from the unrest that has left at least 38 dead since the assassination of Benazir.
Stick-wielding armed gangs roamed the deserted highways of Karachi, the country’s normally teeming economic hub of 12 million people, trying to stop anyone who ventured out of the house.
The country’s normally teeming economic hub of 12 million people, trying to stop anyone who ventured out of the house
The riots destroyed nine election offices along with the voter rolls and ballot boxes inside and hampered the printing of ballot slips and the training of poll workers, the election commission said.
The commission has called an emergency meeting for Monday to decide how to proceed.
The riots however have taken their toll on the country"s infrastructure - and on public confidence.
International elections observers who have not already been evacuated are saying there is no way the elections can be held on schedule.
“Because of the violence we have seen, polling stations burned, material destroyed, we cannot even reach all the polling stations and supply them," Michael Gahler of The European Union Observer Mission
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