KARACHI: The Sindh government on Monday moved a petition in the Sindh High Court calling for a ban on motorcycle riding till Muharram 11, a day after an explosive-laden bike exploded in Karachi killing two.

On Thursday, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik had earlier placed a ban on bike-riding in Karachi and Quetta on Muharram 1, citing intelligence reports of motorcycles being used in terrorist attacks.

However, SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam overturned the ban the same night on a petition filed by Sindh High Court Bar Association President Anwar Mansoor Khan against the day-long ban on use of motorcycles in Karachi.

Malik’s order, which would have forced over a million users of motorcycles off the road in Karachi, had taken the provincial capital by surprise. However, the interior minister defended his order, saying the extreme restriction was needed in view of security concerns.

On Sunday, a motorcycle fitted with explosives exploded near an Imambargah in Karachi’s Abbas Town locality of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, killing at least two and injuring over a dozen.

The Sindh Home Department has now requested the court to review its earlier decision and has called for a ten-day long ban on riding motorcycles until Muharram 11.