Business hubs in the city wore a deserted look on Saturday in response to Jamaat-e-Islami's call for a countrywide strike to express solidarity with Gaza. Traffic on the roads was notably thin as the vast majority of offices and private educational institutes opted for a day off.
Unknown individuals erected barriers and burned tyres on roads in various areas of Korangi, disrupting traffic flow. Most commercial centres in Karachi remained closed. Major markets in the city, including Empress Market, Zainab Market, Saddar mobile and electronics market, Bohri Bazaar, Haroon Shopping Centre, Gulshan-e-Iqbal KDA Market, Babar Market, Liaquatabad, remained closed.
In Korangi, protesters blocked roads by burning tyres at multiple locations in the morning, but police negotiated with them and restored traffic flow. The Sindh High Court Bar Association and Karachi Bar Association officials also supported the strike and issued a notification to suspend court proceedings.
Earlier in the day, JI Karachi Ameer Monem Zafar, along with representatives of the trader fraternity, held a press conference in Saddar. He said that the countrywide strike was an eye-opener for those in the corridors of power. All the big and small markets, wholesale markets, fruit and vegetable markets, fuel pumps, and even courts were closed in solidarity with Gaza and in protest against Israel and the US. He strongly criticised the Muslim bloc of the world over their inability to act decisively.
Chairman of the Supreme Council of Traders (SCOT) Imran Baghpati expressed gratitude to the trader community, market representatives, and businesspersons for the successful shutter-down strike.
He said the streets, markets, and roads of Karachi presented an extraordinary scene of protest against the brutalities inflicted upon Palestine. Meanwhile, Mithadar Police arrested four individuals who were allegedly forcibly shutting down shops and transferred them to the police station. SDPO Kharadar DSP Shabbir Ahmed said that the detained individuals were closing shops by force in the Old City area on Saturday morning. On the directives of higher authorities, a case will be registered against them at the Mithadar police station.
Not just in Karachi, the strike was observed in whole province. Markets remained close in districts of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Sukkur and Larkana divisions. Movement of traffic remained thin in the cities. JI also organised rallies in many cities condemning Israeli brutalities and expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
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