KARACHI: Just a day after a complete strike on the ‘appeal’ of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement against the ‘extrajudicial killing’ of its worker, the city braced for another shutdown on Saturday to protest against the bomb attack on an Imambargah in Shikarpur that left more than 50 people, including children, dead on Friday.

A courier company truck was torched in an arson attack near Star Gate on Sharea Faisal on Friday evening.

The Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen, Shia Ulema Council and Jaffria Alliance gave the call for a ‘peaceful strike’ across the province against the second bomb attack on an Imambargah in recent weeks. The Sindh government, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and traders’ alliance expressed ‘solidarity’ with the victim families, while the strike call attracted support of the Sunni Ittehad Coucil, Sunni Alliance, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

The Sindh government also announced compensation for the blast victims, one-day mourning in solidarity with their families and said the national flag would fly at half mast on Saturday.

The Sindh Bar Council announced that lawyers would boycott court proceedings across the province and observe a day of mourning over the Shikarpur tragedy.

“In Sindh, which is called the Land of Sufis, growing terrorism is a source of concern for every Muslim and Pakistani,” said MWM chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas in a statement issued on Friday evening.

Hours after the bomb blast, businesses in parts of Karachi began wrapping up, as commercial centres and fuel stations in a few districts that included areas of Rizvia Society, Incholi and Gulbahar suspended their operation abruptly on Friday evening.

A large number of men, women and children staged a sit-in against the Shikarpur bomb attack at the Numaish traffic intersection on the MWM’s call for protest that was organised at four other key road links.

Within an hour of the MWM call for the sit-in, hundreds of people converged on the Numaish traffic intersection, Abul Hasan Ispahani Road, Five Start Chowrangi in North Nazimabad, Malir 15 on the National Highway and near Incholi on Shahrah-i-Pakistan.

Due to a sit-in on Sharea Faisal near Start Gate which suspended traffic movement, several passengers and visitors to the airport were left stranded. A visitor to the airport told Dawn that there was a ‘panic-like situation’ at the Jinnah International Airport as people were unable to leave for home.

The protesting families chanted slogans against militancy and demanded justice for the victims. Since the roads leading to Numaish were closed for security reasons, the situation caused a severe traffic jam on alternative routes.

The protesters at Malir 15 later moved to Star Gate traffic intersection, while the protesters at Five Star Chowrangi also dispersed late night.

Angry members of the Shia community take to the streets in Hyderabad on Friday evening to condemn killing of over 50 people in a terrorist attack on an Imambargah in Shikarpur earlier in the day. — Dawn

Allama Abbas Kumaili of the Jaffria Alliance said that the government instead of taking action against militants had turned the entire nation’s sentiment against terror into a constitutional debate after the Peshawar attack.

Condemning the bomb attack, the spokesman for the Shia Ulema Council announced that a protest demonstration against the repeated attacks would be organised outside the Karachi Press Club at 3pm on Saturday.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah announced compensation of Rs500,000 each for the deceased and Rs100,000 for the injured victims.

He also asked the Sindh police chief and Pakistan Rangers to beef up security across the province. “The Sindh chief minister regretted that at this hour of grief and pain, some elements are exploiting this tragedy to score political points,” said a statement issued by CM House. “Unity is the need of the hour and all segments of society must show this unity to lift the morale of our security agencies which are fighting this terror bravely.”

The MWM chief said: “The Shikarpur incident is result of the PPP government’s connivance with the terrorist groups.” He said the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz were playing a game to prolong their rule, leaving the people of this country at the mercy of terrorists and extremists.

“The Sindh government should resign over this failure. We would continue our peaceful protest to convey our anger and grief,” he said, adding that after the strike and three-day mourning, the MWM would announce its strategy. The MWM would take every legal and constitutional course to raise voice against the government failure to protect the life and property of the people.

Addressing a press conference at Wahdat House, Allama Abbas Kumaili of the Jaffaria Alliance gave the call for Sindh-wide strike and criticised the government for engaging itself in a constitutional debate instead of addressing the real issues concerning the masses.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain also condemned the attack and demanded that the government take a decisive action against militant outfits. He said: “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. The government must take a decisive action against the terrorists that plague our country.”

The Karachi Tajir Ittehad also came up in support of the strike call.

While addressing a sit-in at Numaish, Sindh MWM secretary general Allama Mukhtar Imami said: “Due to negligence of the Sindh government and security officials, the terrorists continued massacring en bloc innocent people of Pakistan, mainly Shia Muslims.”

Maulana Aqeel Moosa, Maulana Ali Anwar, Maulana Ahsan Danish, Allama Mubashir Hassan, Ali Hussain Naqvi, Engineer Raza Naqvi and Nasir Hussaini also spoke.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2015

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