KARACHI - Condemning the alarming surge in targeted killings, Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mahenti held on Wednesday that the ruling PPP’s policy of reconciliation has turned the country’s financial hub into a horrendous human slaughterhouse. He observed that targeted attacks had increased in the city after a lull and saboteurs were again on the prowl.Mahenti, while addressing a news conference at the JI Karachi office, Idara-e Noor-e Haq, came down hard on the government, and advised it to act sanely and fulfill its responsibility of providing protection to the citizens. He also pressed it for concrete action against criminals and assassins.  He held the ruling PPP and its allies – the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party – responsible for the brewing security situation in Karachi. Estimating that civilian causalities had topped 1,200 since January 1, the JI leader called on all political groups to unite for a one-point agenda of restoring peace in the city. About the murder of JI worker Abdul Rasheed Farooqui, Mahenti observed that the assassination had triggered panic in all city neighbourhoods. “The government has slipped on the sensitive subject of public protection. Killings do not stop. Not even when the president and prime minister are in Karachi,” he added with dismay, announcing an anti-violence protest on July 27 in New Karachi and a martyrdom conference on the ninth of August.He said that JI would in condemnation to those brutal murders of its workers and officers stage a protest at the Akbari Masjid after Friday congregation in New Karachi on July 27 and later it would hold a Shahadat Conference on August 9 with an aim to unite the parties on one point agenda of peace in the city, and against the target killings and extortion.MQM delegation meets religious scholars: On the directives of MQM Chief Altaf Hussain, the members of MQM Coordination Committee and elected representatives have started meetings with religious scholars belonging to different schools of thought. A delegation of the MQM Coordination Committee called on Maulana Tanivirul Haq Thanvi, Maulana Qari Iqbal and Mufti Muhammad Naeem in their respective offices separately. Talking to the MQM delegation, the ulema said that the role played by Altaf Hussain for safeguarding the national security was not hidden from anyone. The sagacious and positive efforts made by Altaf Hussain for promoting religious harmony and unity could not be forgotten, they said. The ulema assured their full cooperation to Altaf Hussain for peace, brotherhood and unity. They also welcomed the positive steps taken by the MQM.The MQM delegation told the ulema that Pakistan was in the throes of conspiracies and there were potent threats to the national security. It was the need of the hour to eliminate sectarianism and other differences for foiling conspiracies against the country