Pakistan on fire.

Shoot to kill orders have been issued to tackle rioters in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Friday, a day after an assassin killed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto following a campaign rally on Thursday. The tragic incident threw efforts to restore democracy in this nuclear-armed US ally into chaos. Following a night’s violent protest, supporters gathered at the hospital in Rawalpindi where Bhutto had been taken, smashed glass doors, stoned cars and chanted, "Killer, Killer, Musharraf."
One man was killed in a shootout between police and protesters in Tando Allahyar, a town 120 miles north of Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial hub, officials said. Four others were killed in Karachi, two were killed elsewhere in the southern Sindh province and two in Lahore, police said. One supporter in Lahore, Saif Akmal, said: "The General and the chief minister of Punjab and the other (intelligence) agencies have done a great injustice by killing Benazir."
Karachi shopkeepers quickly shuttered their stores as protesters burned vehicles, a gas station and tyres on the roads, a local police official said. Gunmen shot and wounded two police officers, he said. Television footages showed at least one bus and one police vehicle that had been set on fire in the city. "It has been very regrettable, this should not have happened. Whatever happened, it was a very wrong thing. I think this has been a setback for the political scene in Pakistan," said Doctor Ashfaq, a resident of Karachi.
In the city of Multan, Bhutto supporters burned tyres in the streets and set election posters alight. Bhutto’s supporters in many towns burned banks, shops and state-run grocery stores. Some torched ruling party offices, according to Pakistani media. The death of President Pervez Musharraf’s most powerful opponent plunged the nation into turmoil just 12 days before elections, and threatened its already unsteady role as a key fighter against Islamic terror.
Though police forces and the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers were put on "red alert" across Pakistan following the assassination, reports from many places claimed the security personnel did not take strong action against rioters, who mainly targeted government offices, banks, petrol pumps and election offices of the ruling PML-Q party.
The protests were fiercest in cities and villages across Sindh province, especially strongholds of the PPP like Lyari and Malir in Karachi. PPP supporters burnt cars, including police vehicles, and set tyres alight to block roads. Hundreds of people were stranded at the airport and other places in Karachi as public transportation went off the roads. All domestic flights from Karachi were either suspended or rescheduled.
There were also protests at Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi in the politically crucial province of Punjab as well as the capital of Islamabad. At many places, the ire of protesters was reserved for the offices and property of the PML-Q. They burnt offices of the party that backs President Pervez Musharraf and tore down banners and posters of the PML-Q’s candidates.
Reports of protests also came in from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Quetta and other cities of Balochistan province and Peshawar in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where PPP supporters blocked the city’s main road. Bhutto had recently toured Balochistan and NWFP during her whirlwind election campaign.