Strike out: Traffic remains thin as city protests killings

Traders reluctant to open shops even after strike called off due to fear.

KARACHI:

Businesses and educational institutions remained closed and public transport remained off the roads for most of Friday due to the separate strike calls announced by parties.

Maulana Samiul Haq’s Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam (JUI-S) had called for a shutter-down strike to protest the killing of religious scholar Mufti Muhammad Usman Yar Khan at a joint press conference with Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam. Khan was gunned down on January 17 along with his driver and a seminary student on Sharae Faisal.



The Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) also announced a separate strike on Thursday to protest the killings of Shia pilgrims in Mastung.

Strike day

The day started with unidentified men burning tyres and stoning vehicles in order to scare the traffic off the roads. Reports of sporadic unrest were also received from various parts of the city including Landhi, Quaidabad, Patel Para, Orangi Town and New Karachi as police attempted to arrest the miscreants.

Meanwhile, the association of private schools had announced to keep institutions closed while the Karachi Transport Ittehad president Irshad Bukhari had also decided to not bring their vehicles out onto the roads. Most fuel station owners across the city also followed suit.

“Around 80 per cent of the city’s public transport did not appear on the roads throughout the day,” Bukhari told The Express Tribune.

The city’s business hub also looked deserted as the busiest markets, including Kharadar, Jodia Bazaar, Saddar, Paan Mandi, Bolton Market, Lee Market and Urdu Bazaar, remained closed. Most of the shops and commercial centres on Tariq Road, Zamzama, Gurumandir, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony and Hyderi Market also remained closed till late in the afternoon.

However, some businesses across the city opened later in the afternoon as few public vehicles also appeared on the roads. According to JUI-S Karachi secretary general Hafiz Ahmed Ali, this was due to Karachi Markets Alliance chairperson Atiq Mir successfully persuading party leadership to call off their strike by 3pm.

However, Mir was surprised by the fact that the majority of businessmen and traders were unwilling to open their businesses even after an official announcement to call off the strike. “It was the first time in my entire life that the business community - who only knows business - refused to avail the opportunity and a majority of markets remained closed throughout the day,” Mir told The Express Tribune. “They (the business community) were unwilling to open businesses in the face of the prevailing uncertainty and distrust for the law enforcement agencies. This atmosphere of fear is about to engulf the city of lights in darkness.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2014.