KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement announced on Monday that it would observe a peaceful day of mourning on Tuesday across the country in protest against what it described as “the genocide of Mohajirs”.

And as Karachi continued to bleed, MQM chief Altaf Hussain upped the ante by calling for Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s resignation if he was unable to get his orders carried out and to restore peace in Karachi.

In a statement issued late in the evening, Mr Hussain said he had spoken to the prime minister on several occasions and informed him about terrorists who were destroying peace in Karachi. But he regretted that no action had been taken against criminal elements and innocent citizens were still being killed in Karachi.

“If PM Gilani is not able to get his orders implemented and to restore peace in Karachi, it is my brotherly advice to him to immediately quit the office of the prime minister.”

Earlier, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar appealed to traders, industrialists and transporters to support his party’s call to register their protest against terrorism and ruthless killings in the city.

“We appeal to the Haq Parast people throughout Pakistan to hoist black flags on their homes on Tuesday and wear black armbands to express solidarity with the families of people killed in acts of terrorism being carried out under government’spatronage,” Dr Sattar said at a press conference.

He urged President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani to take notice of the killings of Mohajirs by “terrorists of People’s Amn Committee”.

Sources said the decision to observe a day of mourning was taken after the MQM chief had come down hard on the Karachi-based leadership of his party for their failure to take a firm stand on the continuing killing of innocent Mohajirs. Hewas also reportedly displeased by a meeting between the local leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party and the MQM at the Governor’s House, which was held primarily to sort out issues enabling the MQM to announce its return to the coalitiongovernment, the sources added.

Mr Hussain, they said, had told his men that he would not allow them to return to the PPP-led coalition at a time when innocent people were being killed by elements enjoying government’s patronage.

Dr Sattar mentioned the recovery of bodies of five innocent people on Aug 17 and said that “the terrorists of Amn Committee” at the behest of “some ministers and lawmakers of the Pakistan People’s Party” had gone on a killing spree in the old areas ofthe city.

He also mentioned the incidents of kidnapping of the Mohajir youths in Ranchore Lines, Garden, Kharadar, Pak Colony, Baldia Town and other areas adjoining Lyari. The kidnapped people, he alleged, were taken to torture cells set up in Lyari where they were brutally tortured, shot dead and their beheaded bodies stuffed in gunny bags were thrown in different city areas.

The MQM leader criticised the government for not taking any action to arrest the killers and regretted that the government did not even bother to express sympathies with the families of those killed in the recent spate of violence.

Announcing that the day of mourning on Tuesday would be peaceful, Dr Sattar said if the government did not pay heed to the legitimate demands of the MQM, the party would be free to take action to protect the life and property of the citizens ofKarachi.

He strongly condemned the attack on policemen in Korangi’s Chakra Goth area and demanded that the killers be immediately arrested.