January 10, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 30, 1428

HYDERABAD, Jan 9: Once again the city witnessed abrupt closure of business establishment as terrified buyers and commuters ran in panic all over the city here on Wednesday night following strong rumours about killing of MMA secretary general Maulana Fazlur Rehman and MQM’s deputy convener Dr. Farooq Sattar.

A similar situation was reported from Nawabshah which serves to highlight the sense of insecurity among people who have not yet recovered from the aftershocks of disturbances witnessed after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination on December 27 in Rawalpindi.

The city remained in the grip of rumours since Wednesday evening about death of Maulana Fazalur Rehman in a suicide bombing and people started contacting each other and journalists to confirm the news. Later after maghrib prayers another rumour of Dr.Farooq Sattar’s assassination gained currency.

Both these rumours were so strong that shopkeepers, having businesses in the city’s main business establishment, pulled down the shutters. It was almost a repeat of December 27 situation with the only exception of violence as no unpleasant incident was reported from any quarter till filing of this report. People were so harassed and terrified that they didn’t got the news confirmed.

Within no time all the business centres, markets and bazaars were closed, forcing buyers and commuters to run in every direction in panic. A massive stampede was witnessed everywhere that led to traffic jams on all the main arteries and roundabouts. Roads in posh localities like Saddar and Cantonment were hit by traffic jams.A visit to several parts of the city revealed that terrified buyers, including women and children, were trying to catch rickshaws and Suzukis. A number of women were seen reciting Kalima on main roads while they were on their way home with their families. Traffic policemen were only witnessed at Qasim chowk while in other areas no one was present to regulate traffic. Police patrolling was also not seen.

“I don’t know what has happened but I am closing my shop as entire bazaar is closed”, said a panicked shopkeeper of Tilak in-cline Ashfaq Qureshi, who runs a watch shop. Several shopkeepers in other areas tried to keep their shops open half-shuttered after the stampede.

Soon the transporters - the worst affected segment of the society - immediately took their vehicles including buses, rickshaws and Suzukis to safer places as people ran short of transport. Commuters didn’t find intra-city transport which went off the road.

UC Nazims and MQM’s zonal committee member also came out in their and made a futile effort to reopen shops. Filling stations, however, remained opened. “We are trying to convince those shopkeepers that everything is normal in the country but most of shops have been closed here”, said UC-9 Nazim Rashid Khan. As the time passed, a tense clam prevailed in the city. People were seen standing on roads and corner of their streets.

Panicked shopkeepers closed their shops in main bazaars of Nawabshah city following rumour that Maulana Fazlur Rehman has been assassinated in NWFP. No untoward incident, however, was reported.

In Mirpurkhas city also panic spread after rumours of killing of JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman was spread. Shopkeepers closed their businesses.

Later, after an hour, announcements were made from several mosques in the city that Maulana was safe.