3 April, 2005	Sunday	23 Safar 1426

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PESHAWAR, April 2: On the appeal of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, a shutter down and wheel-jam strike was observed across the NWFP on Saturday.

Workers of the religious parties blocked inter-district routes in different parts of the province, and in some areas the protesters forced shopkeepers to keep shutters down, our district correspondents reported.

The reports suggested that complete shutter down and wheel-jam strike was observed in major towns of the province, including Kohat, Nowshera, Hangu, Swabi, Mardan, Mingora, Charssada, Abbottabad, Haripur and Hangu districts. However, people in Mansehra observed partial strike.

Transporters and shopkeepers ignored the strike call in Dera Ismail Khan, the hometown of the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is also general secretary of the MMA.

Hundreds of activists of the Jamaat-i-Islami took to the roads in Nowshera and disturbed the main highway between Peshawar and Islamabad.

The unruly workers forced the shopkeepers to close their shops and attacked the car of the district coordination officer (DCO), Nowshera. They also staged a sit-in on Nowshera-Mardan Road.

In a statement, the president of the Markazi Anjuman Tajiran, Nowshera, Hanifullah, condemned the strike and demanded of the government to take action against the ‘miscreants who damaged property’.

Reports suggested that except for road blockades and tyre burnings, the strike call remained peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from across the province.

In Peshawar, small and major business centres, bazaars, markets remained closed, and public and private transport was off the roads. Attendance in public and private sector offices was very thin.

In the afternoon, auto rickshaws, Suzuki, wagons and private transport, however, appeared on the roads in the city.

Stick-wielding activists of the ruling MMA, marching on various roads burnt tyres and blocked the Grand Trunk Road with stones to disrupt public and private transport in the provincial capital.

Transporters said the activists of the religious parties blocked the G.T Road in front of the city’s main bus terminal early morning and set tyres on fire to force public transport to remain off the roads.

They said the police, backed by armed personnel carriers (APCs), did not take action against the activists who overturned a rickshaw on the G.T Road and threw stones at the public transport.

Though teams of police had been deployed at several chowks and markets in various parts of the provincial metropolis, the law enforcers remained did not take notice of the MMA activists burning tyres at several points to block the G.T. Road passing through Peshawar.

At several places, police parties escorted the small groups of the activists in the city, who set used tyres on fire in front of the main bus terminal and close to the Gulbahar police station.

Protesters, carrying flags of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) forced shopkeepers and vendors at Mian Iqbal Chowk in the main Saddar Bazaar to close their businesses. The shopkeepers put down their shutters due to fear. Transporters parked their vehicles at petrol pumps, service roads and bus stands in the city.

On the main Jamrud Road, where the activists of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam) ransacked various business outlets and showrooms on Thursday last, the shopkeepers covered the front of their shops and restaurants with tarpaulin.

NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, who is also provincial chief of the JI, thanked the transporters and traders for making the strike a success.

Mr Siraj, who arrived at the Peshawar Press Club on a motorbike, in place of his official car or the one provided to him by the JI, told journalists at a press conference that the masses had rejected the US agenda being implemented by the rulers.

He said the MMA did not use government machinery for the strike. The provincial government had constituted a committee to assess the damages of the business community caused during the strike called by the Ponam, he added.

He said after completion of the assessment report, the provincial government would pay compensation to the shopkeepers for their damages.

Our Correspondent from Mansehra adds: People observed partial strike here on Saturday in some areas, including Baffa, under the pressure of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal activists.

Many shops on main Abbottabad, Shinkiari and Kashmir roads remained opened and the flow of traffic unhindered in the entire Mansehra town.

Shopkeepers closed their business only when MMA workers led by MNA Moulana Abdul Malik took out a procession, but after its passing, they reopened their shops.