No public transport in Mauripur as bus owners protest

Marwat coach, Akbar coach and D-8 take passengers to Hawkes Bay.

KARACHI: Public transport owners protested against incidents of extortion in the city by refusing to operate in areas around the Mauripur Road on Tuesday.

“They [the extortionists] would come to bus-stands, resort to aerial firing, and then ask for money,” said Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI) general secretary Saad Mehmood Afridi. He added that buses returned after reaching the Gulbai Bridge.

Public transport vehicles that run on Mauripur Road, including Marwat coach, Shiraz coach, Imran coach, Akbar coach and D-8, routinely take passengers to 500 Quarters, Hawkes Bay, Musharraf Colony and other areas. Afridi said that elder members of the local community had assured the transporters that they would “fix” their problems with the extortionists. “However, we would continue to protest until we are provided protection,” said Afridi.

Meanwhile, KTI vice president Haji Tawab Khan claimed that transporters had never paid extortion money to any political or religious party in the city, and that they intend continue that trend. He added that the culprits were demanding Rs40,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2012.