KARACHI: Life in the provincial metropolis came to a standstill on Thursday as people mourned the death of over 40 victims of the Wednesday bus attack.

The government declared Thursday a ‘day of mourning’ and many political and religious parties and trade bodies backed the call.

With public transport off the road, major business centres and markets remained closed as traders mourned the devastating incident in which gunmen boarded a bus carrying Shia Ismaili passengers and shot them dead at point-blank range near Safoora Chowrangi.

A large number of petrol pumps and CNG stations were also closed. Long queues of motorists were seen at a few fuel stations that remained open.

Business leaders and representatives of transport bodies asserted that they voluntarily kept their businesses closed to condemn the act of terrorism against one of the most peaceful and humble communities in the country.

They regretted that whenever order was being restored to the metropolis an “unseen force” always created a law and order situation to harass the common man.

“Every Pakistani is deeply grieved due to the tragic incident and that is why we kept our shutters down to mourn and condemn such a brutality,” said Ateeq Meer, chairman of the Karachi Tajir Ittehad — a common platform for nearly 300 market and trade associations.

He said that the city’s major markets remained closed in line with the call from the body after the government, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party and Majlis-i-Wahdat-i-Muslimeen announced a day of mourning.

“In case of a strike call give by any political party, we approach the party concerned in the afternoon with a request to call off their strike in the evening so traders could resume their business by 3pm or 4pm. But in this case, we did not even ask traders to resume business neither anyone approached us as regular business remained closed for the entire day,” added Mr Meer.

Similarly, a large number of transport operators preferred not to bring their vehicles to roads, although buses started emerging on roads later in the evening. The transporters also referred to the closure of several fuel stations which hampered regular business of those who wanted to ply the buses despite the mourning call.

“Since it was a very tragic incident, majority of the transporters decided on their own not to bring buses to roads,” said a spokesman for the Karachi Transport Ittehad. “On key road links like Sharea Faisal, Shahrah-i-Pakistan, Shershah Suri Road and others, a few operators plied buses, coaches but mostly it was not a normal day as far as transport operation is concerned.”

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2015

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