Strike, rallies held to protest Lahore killings

KARACHI: Different Sunni organisation staged a protest demonstration on MA Jinnah road Saturday to demand immediate action against the people behind the attack on Lahore’s Sufi shrine a day earlier.

Leaders alleged that the government was still reluctant to crack down on Taliban militants.

In order to express their anger, several outfits called a strike for the weekend and it was for the most part effective on Saturday. There were some unconfirmed reports that the Mobina Town police had detained three activists of different political and religious outfits for trying to for shopkeepers to close down near the Metrological department.

According to a police source, some areas broke out into violence. There was intermittent aerial firing reported from Lyari, Docks, Macchar Colony, Lines area and New Karachi. Some men set on fire a vehicle (ANJ-392) in Lines Area.

Meanwhile, the major markets in North Nazimabad, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, North Karachi and Gulistan-i-Jauhar were closed. Streets were deserted in Saddar, PIB Colony, Liaquatabad, New MA Jinnah road and Boultan Market. Buses stayed off the circuit and petrol and CNG stations refused to open.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2010.