More than 20,000 associated shopkeepers across Karachi also kept their businesses closed against the attack on Sajjad Rizvi and his two brothers, who were targeted on their way back home. One of the brothers lost his life while other two were seriously injured.
The traders had called a late night meeting on Friday and gave the strike call at 2am.
“We feel we are living in a jungle where nobody is safe,” Muhammad Idrees, the Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA) president, told The Express Tribune. “The killers are openly targeting innocent people and we have not seen any effort from the government to curb this nuisance.”
“We knew these members [victims] for the past 20 years. They are peaceful people and they had no links with any political or religious party. For target killers, they were soft targets and we believe they were targeted because they were from the Shia community,” Idrees said.
Despite the city being on red alert owing to the ongoing defence exhibition with army, rangers and police personnel deployed, innocent traders were targeted on a busy thoroughfare, he said.
The trader community has asked the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) -the parent body of all major trade and industrial associations of Karachi - to play its due role in safeguarding the property and lives of traders.
From small trader associations to the largest commerce chamber of Pakistan, businessmen in Karachi have been continuously protesting over the deteriorating security condition of the city.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2012.
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