Residents seek to rid Karachi of 'hate graffiti'

For years, Karachi's walls have been spattered with the bloodstains of murder victims and scrawled with graffiti touting everything from sectarian hatred to quack cures for erectile dysfunction.

Now a group of artists and volunteers are reclaiming the walls by painting them with cheerful designs aimed at bringing some happiness and pride back to an often violent, chaotic and corrupt city.

Karachi, Pakistan's economic capital and biggest metropolis, has been swamped in recent years by a wave of extortion, murder and kidnapping - for religious, criminal, ethnic and political reasons.