May 15, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 27, 1428

LAHORE, May 14: All bazaars and shopping malls, except two Gulberg markets, remained shut in the city on Monday in response to a strike call by the opposition parties against Karachi killings.

All wholesale markets and bazaars in downtown wore a deserted look as there was no business there throughout the day.

Previous strike calls had never been so much successful as even those shops would open in the second half of the day which would have been closed in the morning.

The business centres which remained closed throughout the day included: Azam Cloth Market, Pakistan Cloth Market, Kashmiri Bazaar, Bara Market, Sarafa Bazaar, Moti Bazaar, Shahalam Market, Akbari Mandi, Circular Road, Lunda Bazaar Steel Market, Badami Bagh Spare-Parts and Steel Market, Timber Market, Bilal Gung, Anarkali Bazaar, Urdu Bazaar, Patiala Ground, Hall Road, Beadon Road, Montgomery Road, McLeod Road, Railway Station, Nila Gumbad, The Mall, Abid Market, Ferozepur Road, Allama Iqbal Town, Moon Market, Garden Town’s Barkat Market, Shadman Market, Sadar Bazaar, Chungi Amar Sidhu, Ichhra and Walton Road.

Shops, however, remained opened in Liberty Market and Main Market, both in Gulberg area where Qaumi Tajir Ittehad enjoyed a clout.

Wahdat Road shops were opened in the morning but later closed on the appeal of Ferozepur Road traders’ leaders.

Traffic on city roads was thin due to the closure of most of the private offices while attendance in government offices also dropped as fear of violence kept the people indoors.

A drastic decline was seen in attendance in state-run schools apparently either for non-availability of transport or their parents feared that eruption of any clash between the police and the opposition.

Law-enforcement agencies barricaded some roads around Lower Mall and The Mall portion where the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and lawyers were to take out their rallies against Karachi incidents.

A press release issued by the Lahore Division Sarafa and Jewellers Association said business in all gold markets of the city as well as of Sheikhupura, Kasur and Okara districts remained shut. Chairman Muhammad Ahmad, President Haji Mushtaq Ahmad and General Secretary Tariq Mahmood in a statement said that they had acted only on humanitarian basis and not because of their political affiliations.

“We have no political designs and our protest is only on humanitarian grounds,” the press release said.

Anjuman Tajiran Punjab president Haji Maqsood Butt had announced at a press conference on Sunday that Lahore traders would observe a complete strike to express their solidarity with the Karachiites.

Quami Tajir Ittehad chief Irfan Iqbal Shiekh, at a separate press conference, dissociated his body from the strike call saying city traders would not align themselves with any political activity and would do their routine business.