KARACHI, Aug 31: People braced for a shutter-down on Friday following a strike call given by all the opposition parties and human rights organizations to condemn the military action in Balochistan and the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Though the trade and retailers’ associations and transporters bodies expressed their indifference to the strike call, they left the option to their members to go for or against the strike call.
The Karachi Transport Ittehad, a major group of transporters, decided to keep their vehicles off the road, saying the government had failed to provide protection to transporters during previous strikes. Its leaders claimed that no compensation had been paid to the transporters for the vehicles burnt or damaged during a previous violence.
The Karachi Goods Carriers’ Association in its meeting also left the option to its members.
Meanwhile, the Sindh government assured the transporters that they would be provided security and protection.
In a meeting at Governor’s House, it was decided that a central control-room would start functioning from Thursday night to keep a round-the-clock vigil, and transporters bringing their vehicles on road on Friday would be given adequate protection.
On Thursday evening, people started making phone calls to newspaper offices to know about the effectiveness of the strike.
Parents were concerned about their children as they wanted to know if there was any announcement about schools’ closure. However, there was no announcement from the authorities about the closure of educational institutions.
Rumours about disturbances in some parts of the city, particularly in Lyari, circulated widely, creating an atmosphere of fear.
Various parts of the city, in general, and Lyari, in particular, have witnessed violence between Sunday and Wednesday following the killing of Akbar Bugti.
Motorists and motorcyclists who were not sure about law and order on Friday, thronged the petrol stations for a refill.
Long queues were seen at petrol stations in various localities and some petrol stations ran short of fuel deposits.
A meeting of the joint opposition, including the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam), the Tehrik-i-Insaf and other nationalist parties urged the people to close their businesses on Friday and observe a strike over the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti.
