Muharram turns off buyers and sellers

City's Sunday Bazaars experiencing less traffic than usual.

LAHORE: The city’s Sunday Bazaars experienced less traffic than usual yesterday as several vendors and many customers stayed away thinking there would be no weekly market because of Muharram.

Vendors at the Nishtar Town and Model Town bazaars said that they had not planned to set up stalls this Sunday since there was no market in Muharram last year. “We had to rush around on Sunday morning to set up the stall,” said one vendor.

“Many vendors could not join us as they thought that the Sunday Bazaar would not take place.”

Mudassar Niaz, a visitor to the Nishtar Town bazaar, said that he had come to buy winter clothes, but there were no garment vendors around. Abid Mahmood, another shopper at the same bazaar, said that he had been unable to get his usual weekly supplies because there were few vegetable vendors around.

Many customers said that they were only shopping for essentials, otherwise they would not go to the shops this close to Muharram 10.

“We’re short of food at home and I don’t have any other day off so I have to shop on Sundays,” said Iftikhar Malik at the Model Town bazaar.

District Coordination Officer Ahad Cheema said that there were usually fewer visitors and vendors on Sundays that fell close to Muharram 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2010.