With Karachi, once the pride of Pakistan, its industrial and commercial hub and a flourishing port, bathing in blood, it is not time for the ruling leadership to stay aloof; it is time to act. And in such a threatening situation for Interior Minister Rehman Malik, known for his zero credibility rating though, to say that he knows who is behind the spate of killings, it is an occasion for them to hang their heads in shame. As the nations bleeding heart cries out for a merciful end to this senseless slaughter, Mr Malik sprinkles salts on its wounds when he says, I have all the details and will expose them soon. That soon, he should have known, is now; in fact, it is long past. It is no small event that nearly 85 Karachiites were butchered in just three days on Thursday alone the death toll stood at 45 and several hundred of them were injured. People were shot in a random killing spree while they were travelling in the bus, shopping at the market place or walking on the pavement. Even at places, those who stayed home for fear of life were not spared and hand grenades were lobbed into their houses. Buses, houses and shops were set on fire. Reportedly, no security presence was visible at the scenes of multiple tragedies. Karachi that once throbbed with life for 24 hours seven days a week was seen deserted in most of the localities, with an occasional bus plying on their roads and forced to pay the price for its daring to step out of its terminal, a motorist rushing to the safety of his home or a vendor of goods desperate to sell his wares but risking his life for the survival of hungry family. And as the news spread all over the town, the relatively securer areas witnessed traffic jams, as the people wanted to make for their homes to escape the trigger happy lot should they also want to create chaos in their localities as well. But one wonders why the politic\\l stakeholders PPP, ANP and MQM either wielding power as the ruling parties or carrying the weight and influence of the opposition, have stood idly by letting the city of lights fall into complete darkness The MQMs complaint that its workers are being targeted as punishment to the party for leaving the government deserves to be properly probed. The public knows very well that successive regimes have used this mini-Pakistan as battlefield for years to teach a lesson to their rivals. President Zardari who has called a meeting to discuss the situation would only be hearing views what the participants want him to hear. A meeting of political parties which have stakes in the city must get together and for the sake of the country bring this mayhem to an end. The big businessmen are compelled to take their capital elsewhere in the country or outside Pakistan; a common denizen of Karachi or an ordinary shopkeeper has no choice but to stay put, as poor Karachi bleeds