Neither here nor there: Some schools, businesses stay closed in mixed response to JI strike

In parts of Karachi activists protested predawn arrests۔

KARACHI: Some schools were closed, others stayed open. It was business as usual in some parts of Karachi and silent as the grave in others. If this was a measure of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s support base in Pakistan’s largest city, it was hard to draw a conclusion.

The right-wing party had called the strike over the killing of one of its members, former town nazim Dr Pervaiz Mehmood, a day earlier. It has been a week of low-grade simmering violence in the city with a handful of targeted homicides reported each day.

For what it was worth, support came from different political parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, JUI-F, Sunni Tehreek, MQM-Haqiqi, Awami Tehreek, Sindh United Party and the Lyari-based Karachi City Alliance. But none of them hold any sway in the elected house of representatives. The ruling coalition parties did not support the strike. This includes the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

JI’s Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mehanti declared the strike as a “referendum against the MQM” and thanked transporters, traders and citizens for what he called their voluntary support in making the strike “successful”.

The day dawned with protests from JI activists in different parts of the city. They took to the streets and burnt tires to scare traffic away. Aside from Mehmood’s murder, they were infuriated at predawn arrests of several dozen party activists. Past midnight, the police had rounded up more than 100 of them, including Mehanti, who was subsequently released and put under house arrest.

“We had been receiving confirmation of raids from worried family members all through the night,” said JI spokesperson Zahid Askari, adding that most of the activists were detained from Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Jamshed Town, Landhi, Korangi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, North Nazimabad, Lyari.

Violence was reported from Patel Para, New Karachi, Nazimabad, Malir and Shah Faisal, Lyari where unruly youngsters fired shots in the air and pelted vehicles with stones.

Karachi Markets Alliance chairperson Ateeq Mir said that it was the atmosphere of fear which compelled traders to stay at home. “The situation was uncertain as target killings had gained momentum over the last two days,” he said.

The busiest markets such as Jodia Bazaar and Saddar stayed closed. The same was reported from commercial centres such as Tariq Road, Zamzama and Hyderi Market. In the late afternoon, however, some shops across the city opened and a few public transport vehicles appeared. The Karachi Transport Ittehad’s president, Syed Irshad Bukhari, told The Express Tribune that they issued no official statement in support of the strike. “The transporters who observed the strike did so voluntarily out of fear of violence,” he said. Buses are often set on fire in such situations.

Nixor College, BayView, Grammar School’s Saddar campus and The Lyceum School were among those that chose to stay closed. A van that went to collect staff from Korangi for a montessori in DHA came under attack. Luckily no one was injured but the windscreen was smashed.

“The decision to keep a school open was left at the administration’s discretion and there was a mix response across the city,” said Syed Khalid Shah of the All Private Schools Management Association.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2012.

radication, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, said that the decision to use direct disbursements was taken because WHO was not receiving verified expenditure statements from many districts. In some areas, four payments were being made to the same person. Although Ali did not take names or point fingers, she said that this was rare but they could not ignore it.

 

On the other hand, Baldia town’s health officer, Dr Arif Niaz, says that due to a lack of awareness, many employees did not have identity cards. As far as duplicating identity cards of other workers was concerned, Niaz claimed that many employees were from the same family and shared identity cards. “Why should people make identity cards just to get Rs250 a day,” he said. For his part, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed said that he would look into the matter as the complaint was filed on September 13. “The WHO had played a positive role in Pakistan and this was why we have always encouraged its work,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2012.