KARACHI: Markets and business centres in different parts of the city were abruptly shut on Wednesday afternoon following the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) appeal for mourning over the worker’s killing in police custody.

Traffic also turned thin later in the day but the city life did not come to a complete halt as a number of fuel stations and trade centres were seen operating as usual.

This was the first such appeal to transporters and traders by the MQM to keep their businesses closed since March when the Rangers raided the party’s headquarters, Nine Zero, and claimed to have arrested convicted criminals.

The city remained peaceful with no report of violence though the traders said the call from the party hit regular business in several districts except Karachi south district that largely remained unaffected.

“Business mostly in Karachi central district and east district were closed after the call,” said Ateeq Meer, chairman of the Karachi Tajir Ittehad — a common platform for nearly 300 market and traders’ associations.

“The markets in Karachi south district that has the country’s largest wholesale markets and major shopping malls and centres in Clifton areas continued their business. Business was affected but did not come to a complete halt,” he said.

The transporters said that they had not been conveyed any advisory by their representative body after the MQM call. In such situations, security remained the main concern of the transporters but they did not receive any threat to keep their vehicles off the road, they added.

“Certainly, business was not normal after the mourning call,” said a senior member of the Karachi Transport Ittehad. “Yet it was not like the previous ones.”

He added that number of buses on the road dropped in the afternoon yet many could be seen plying on major roads such as Sharea Faisal, Shahrah-i-Pakistan, Shershah Suri Road, M.A. Jinnah Road.”

Asked about the transport operation on Thursday in view of the MQM call for mourning, he said the transporters would decide it later considering law and order and availability of fuel that remained an issue in some areas on Wednesday after the party’s call.

A number of petrol pumps and CNG stations were closed in the afternoon and the few that stayed open were seen catering to long queues of vehicles.

Meanwhile, a Karachi University official told Dawn that while the university would remain open on Thursday all the semester examinations scheduled for the day had been postponed.

Similarly, the NED and Urdu universities, the board of intermediate Karachi and some other institutions also announced the postponement of the papers for the day.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2015

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