Dutiful reactions: Youm-e-Sog announced, petrol pumps shut down minutes later

Day of mourning was announced by party leaders after the killings of Pakistan Awami Tehreek supporters in Lahore.

KARACHI:

Petrol pumps in different parts of city dutifully shut down business minutes after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced a day of mourning on Wednesday (today).

The day of mourning was announced by party leaders after the killings of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) supporters in Lahore. Familiar to the situation following such calls, residents rushed out of their offices and homes to fill up fuel; long queues were witnessed at most stations that remained open.

In some areas, the law enforcers were seen asking the fuel stations to shut down operations to avoid any untoward incident. "We do not want to take any risks," said one police official stationed at a police van in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. "We will definitely lose our jobs if any petrol pump is set ablaze within our jurisdiction so it is better to shut them down ourselves."

Meanwhile, Karachi police IG Ghulam Qadir Thebo sent a message to all SHOs and SDPOs in the city to arrest anyone found shutting down shops forcefully. "Any SHO who failed to follow [these orders] will be suspended at once," he said.

Later, the MQM issued another statement asking all traders and transport to resume business as usual. Following this call, all petrol pumps started opening once again.

MWM joins protest

Several activists of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran gathered outside the press club on Tuesday afternoon to protest against the Lahore police. They were later joined by the Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) leader Allama Aijaz Behishti.

Accompanied by MWM officials Ali Hussain Naqvi, Nasir Hussaini, Hassan Hashmi, Engineer Raza Naqvi and Asif Safavi, Allama Behishti stayed with the protesters to express solidarity with those who lost their lives in Lahore. He claimed peaceful political opponents were sprayed with bullets and tear gas shells, and charged with batons. Even women were not spared, he added. Allama Behishti rejected Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah's charges against the protesters belonging to Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and PAT. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2014.