A metropolis on the first day of a lockdown

As an uneasy quietude prevails in Karachi, some continue to flout orders to stay home

KARACHI: Life remained stagnant in the port city on Monday amid the lockdown imposed by the Sindh government to limit the spread of the coronavirus - at least on the main roads and city centres, where police presence appeared to be focused. In the smaller streets and neighbourhoods, people continued to mingle with each other, flouting government orders.

All business centres and shops remained closed except for essential food and medical stores. Public transport also remained suspended.

Police and Rangers were deployed at several points in the metropolis, with law enforcement officials patrolling the streets to ensure the implementation of the lockdown.

Meanwhile, citizens were being warned to stay in their homes through announcements on loudspeakers installed on mosques and police vehicles.



Security forces also stopped people riding motorcycles or other vehicles on the roads, checking their identity cards and making sure they were only leaving their homes for necessary reasons, such as medical emergencies or buying necessities.

In the mosques, worshippers were asked to offer the remaining prayers at home after completing the obligatory ones. Petrol pumps, while open throughout the city, are seeing fewer vehicles.

However, surveying various areas in the provincial capital, including Liaquatabad, Nazimabad, FB Area, Gulshan Iqbal, SITE and Gurumandir, it appeared that several people were out and about.

Many people, including elders and children, were seen purchasing various food items, with few of them wearing face masks.

People seemed to be reluctant to take precautionary measures despite being aware of the risk they posed to themselves and those around them, whereas shopkeepers scoffed at these measures.

As evening fell, motorcyclists took to the city’s roads with their families, while other families drove along in their cars, despite the government restrictions on the number of passengers permitted.



At the same time, children took advantage of the school closures to play cricket in the streets. Though they scattered whenever they caught a glimpse of the police, they would resume their games as soon as the law enforcers moved on.

Shahid, the owner of a grocery shop, told The Express Tribune that he and others had stored flour and other commodities in large amounts before the lockdown was announced. “If a family consumed 10 kilogrammes of flour in a week, then they have purchased 20kg of flour. People are worried about getting these essentials,” he said.

Meanwhile, praising the government’s decision to impose a lockdown, a consumer complained that shopkeepers were selling items at higher prices despite warnings by the authorities. “A 10kg bag of flour is being sold for Rs640 while the prices of different vegetables have also risen,” she lamented. “Onions are being sold at Rs70 to Rs75, while the prices of potatoes have gone up to Rs50 and tomatoes are being sold at Rs40.”



A young man, Saif, expressing dismay, said that he could not get medical masks or sanitisers anywhere, with these items either being out of stock or sold at exorbitant prices wherever he sought them.

Daily-wage workers, too, were extremely troubled due to the lockdown. According to Basharat, who works at a tea stall in the port city, his family is on the verge of starvation as the shutdown has left him unable to make ends meet. “We only earn enough to sustain us for a day,” he said, appealing to the government to assure relief and rations for workers like him. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2020.