Pakistan's Imran Khan barred from Karachi

By Imtiaz Shah

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities stopped cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan traveling to the southern city of Karachi on Sunday because of fear his trip could trigger violence in the commercial hub.

Last week, at least 27 people were killed in clashes in Karachi between rival ethnic-based factions, another security worry for the nuclear-armed country already battling a wave of Islamist militant violence.

In the latest militant violence, Pakistani Taliban beheaded two government officials in the northwestern Swat Valley, police said. A militant spokesman said the two were beheaded in revenge for the killing of two insurgents commanders by security forces.

Khan was stopped at the airport in the city of Lahore from boarding a flight to Karachi.

"It's shameful," Khan told reporters at the airport.

"Under what law can they stop a Pakistani citizen going to Karachi? Isn't Karachi a city of Pakistan?"

The violence in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, resulted from tension between Mohajirs, the descendents of Urdu-speaking people who migrated from India after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, and ethnic Pashtuns from the northwest.

Khan, who heads his own small party, is Pashtun.

Tension in Karachi has been building as Mohajirs, who dominate the city's administration, have become suspicious of a Pashtun community that has strong Islamist sympathies, following a surge in militancy in the northwest.

The Karachi violence dented investor confidence. The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index ended 0.95 percent, or 69.20 points lower at 7,202 points on Thursday.

Friday was a market holiday.

OBAMA TALKS

The trouble in Karachi comes as President Asif Ali Zardari prepares to meet U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Washington on May 6-7 to discuss how to destroy al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries on the Pakistani-Afghan border.

Obama said last week the situation in Pakistan warranted "grave concern".

The killing of the two government workers in the former tourist valley of Swat will raise fresh doubts about a peace deal struck in February aimed at ending militant violence in the region.