Musharraf under pressure after Karachi blast

President Pervez Musharraf faced new calls for his resignation on Tuesday after a bomb killed 11 people here on late Monday.

The blast tore through a street market as President Musharraf was visiting Karachi, with officials saying it was intended to sow fear ahead of the February 18 polls, already delayed once by the martyrdom of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Benazir’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, was also in the city but there was no suggestion either man was targeted.

Opposition officials called for President Musharraf to resign in the wake of the latest of dozens of bombings that have rocked the country.

“The rulers must admit their failure and quit,” said Raja Zafar-ul Haq, chairman of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).

He said the government’s weakness was encouraging militant violence.

“The bombings have destabilised the economy and tarnished the country’s image. There are people who are trying to destabilise the country but the government is doing nothing to deal with them,” he said.

Nawaz Sharif has repeatedly called for the president’s resignation since returning to the country from exile in November.

Police were on high alert in Karachi and thousands of rangers were fanning out across the city, officials said.

“We have deployed 10,000 personnel at all sensitive points and installations,” Paramilitary Rangers spokesman Captain Mohammad Fazal said, adding that another 4,000 were on standby.

The blast on Monday evening ripped through a busy intersection outside a Textile factory as workers were buying food on their way home.

“There was no specific target, it was just meant to kill ordinary civilians. The terrorists chose a soft target to spread panic and terrorise society,” interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said.

Officials said the bloodshed was meant to force the government to push back the elections again, a move that could further undermine stability in the Pakistan.

In another incident on Monday, a crudely made bomb went off in the election office of Awami Nationalist Party (ANP) in Peshawar, wounding one person, police said.

A third bomb exploded in an open area of the southwestern industrial town of Hub, which borders Karachi, but caused no damage or casualties, police said.