Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.
The 2010 Karachi riots started on August 3, 2010, after the assassination of Parliament member Raza Haider, a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement political party, on the night of August 2, 2010, in Karachi, Pakistan. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) represents the Urdu-speaking Muhajir and is a political rival of the Pashtuns who have migrated to the city from northwest Pakistan. Haider, a Shia Muslim, was killed as he attended a funeral at a mosque.The riots began when the Pashtuns attacked Karachi to occupy and tag it as a "Pashtun plot", to which Urdu speakings responded back.
By August 6 at least 10 Pashtuns were killed and more than 100 people injured in widespread violence that engulfed the city. Economic losses over two days of riots were estimated to be about 17 billion Pakistani rupees (approximately 200 million USD).