KARACHI, May 20: Motorists and commuters faced hardships owing to severe traffic jams on main commercial arteries on the arrival of the prime minister on Tuesday.

Worst traffic jams were witnessed around Mereweather Tower, M. A. Jinnah Road and Shahrah-i-Liaquat after the closure of the I.I. Chundrigar Road for the VVIP movement in the day.

A senior police official said the prime minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, went straight to the State Bank from the airport.

Due to the schedule of the prime minister, the traffic remained disturbed on Sharea Faisal and another important thoroughfare I.I. Chundrigar Road for quite some time.

The traffic was diverted to link roads and on M.A. Jinnah Road which became overcrowded and the vehicles kept on moving at a snail’s pace.

The traffic, approaching towards the I.I. Chundrigar Road, from the Mereweather Tower side, was diverted to the Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan road till the prime minister’s engagements at the State Bank.

The area around the State Bank is a busy commercial area and is surrounded by national and foreign banks, Karachi Stock Exchange, Cotton Exchange, the offices of local and multinational companies.

Most of the people, working at these offices faced hardships in reaching their destination.

Prime minister later went to his private residence in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, where the police blocked the movement of vehicular traffic on certain roads leading to the residence of the prime minister, causing inconvenience to the people in his neighbourhood.

Vehicles coming from Sir Shah Suleman Road, Jail Chowrangi to Hasan Square got stuck up in the evening.