3 April, 2005	Sunday	23 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, March 2: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA)’s call for a countrywide strike received mixed response in Sindh and Punjab while it met with near-complete success in all the major towns of the NWFP and Balochistan. By and large, the strike remained peaceful as the government had deployed heavy contingents of security forces in all sensitive areas, bus stops and public places to avert any untoward incident.

Protest rallies were taken out in many parts of the country to encourage the business community and transporters to join the protest, who were sympathetic to the strike call but were afraid of administrative action. There was partial shutter-down in major markets of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and public transport remained off the roads till midday. However, many shops opened in the afternoon and transport came on roads.

In the NWFP, while there was a complete shutter-down in all major city markets, public transport was also non-existent except in Dera Ismail Khan, the city of MMA’s secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman, where business remained almost normal. Reports from Balochistan said there was complete strike in all the major cities, including Quetta, Pishin, Nasirabad, Khuzdar, Qalat, Turbat, Gwadar and Turbat.

The MMA’s call received mixed response in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Rahimyar Khan and other cities with sporadic incidents of disturbances and arrests of the alliance workers. In Lahore, Rawalpindi, Layyah and Sukkur, police is reported to have resorted to baton-charge to force shopkeepers and traders to open their businesses.

The government described the strike as a “complete failure” while the MMA leadership termed it a “thumping success”. MMA’s top leaders Liaquat Baloch and Maulana Ghafoor Haideri in their separate news conferences said the alliance’s supreme council will decide about the next stage of the anti-government drive.

They demanded that President Musharraf doff his uniform, quit presidential office and abolish the controversial National Security Council before a popular movement forced him to do so. Mr Baloch claimed that there was complete strike in interior of Sindh and various towns and cities of Punjab.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said all reports indicated that the MMA’s strike had been a failure all over the country. Both admitted that arrests had been made to maintain law and order and warned that those involved in incidents of arson or disturbances might be tried in anti-terrorism courts.

In Karachi, major commercial centres and markets remained closed and roads wore a deserted look as most public transport operators did not ply their vehicles. However, some shops in different localities were opened and a few public transport vehicles came on roads in the afternoon. Most offices, banks, schools, and industrial units remained closed. No case was heard in the city courts. No business was conducted at the Sabzimandi situated on the city outskirts.

Reports about pelting the vehicles with stones were received from some areas. Police picked up a number of people from different areas and booked them for breach of peace. The police also raided the Jamaat-i-Islami’s Karachi office and picked up some of its leaders, including the city chief Dr Mairajul Huda.

City police Chief Tariq Jamil confirmed the arrests, saying a case had been registered against them after recovery of 17 petrol-bottles, explosive material and pamphlets against the government.

In Punjab, things remained peaceful except for a few incidents of clashes between the alliance activists and police. Nearly 200 MMA activists were arrested mainly from Lahore, Layyah, Multan and Faisalabad when they ‘tried’ to enforce strike.

In Layyah, a clash between law enforcers and the MMA activists left 14 people injured, including 10 policemen.

In Lahore, police arrested over 100 workers of the Jamaat-i-Islami from different parts of the city and clashed with them at Mansoora after they tried to block traffic on the Multan Road.

A group of JI activists smashed windowpanes of three buses near the New Campus. The police reportedly arrested JI activists from Mansoora, New Campus, Wahdat Colony and Rang Mahal.

In Faisalabad, the religious alliance workers reportedly burnt a bus and smashed windowpanes of some others.

While traffic movement in urban areas remained normal under the security cover, there were fewer vehicles on inter-city routes.

In Sukkur, police baton-charged protesters in several areas and arrested more than 71 people while dozens were injured.

Local MMA leaders claimed that over 200 activists of the alliance were arrested while 100 more were missing.

The MMA claimed that police used force to make shopkeepers open their establishments. Due to police excesses many shopkeepers and small traders’ organizations, who had earlier assured the administration that they will keep their shops open, decided to observe a complete strike.

In the NWFP, MMA workers blocked inter-district routes while in some areas the protesters forced shopkeepers to keep shutters down.

Complete strike was observed in Kohat, Nowshera, Hangu, Swabi, Mardan, Mingora, Charssada, Abbottabad, Haripur and Hangu districts.

However, transporters and shopkeepers ignored the strike call in Dera Ismail Khan.

In Nowshera, hundreds of JI activists disturbed the main highway between Peshawar and Islamabad.

Reports suggested that barring road blockades and burning of tyres, the strike remained peaceful.

In Peshawar, small and major business centres, bazaars, and markets remained closed throughout the day, while most public transport was off the roads.

According to reports reaching from Balochistan, about 130 MMA activists were arrested in Quetta and Dera Murad Jamali on charges of creating obstructions on roads in the city and on national highways in Nasirabad and Khuzdar districts. The MMA denied the charge.

The MMA strike was different from that of PONM in that it exempted medical stores, bread and vegetable shops and ambulances from joining the protest.

Maulana Noor Muhammad, MNA, accused the local administration of attempting to make the strike a failure because of the presence of President Musharraf in Quetta “but in vain”.

He claimed that more than 100 MMA members had been arrested from Pashtoonabad, Shaldara, Sirki Road, Kharotabad, Sariab and Killi Alamo.