KARACHI, Nov 17: A major traffic jam was witnessed on Monday when a number of vehicles got stuck on roads owing to the closure of M.A. Jinnah road where a procession was being taken out for observing martyrdom of Hazrat Ali (RA).

The tight security measures and closure of certain roads and thoroughfares forced motorists and public transport to take alternative routes causing the worst jam.

The religious procession, which was taken out from Nishter Park, passed through M.A. Jinnah road and terminated at Kharadar. Heavy contingents of law enforcement agencies and police were deployed at the procession route. Different scouts had pitched their tents to guide and assist the mourners in the procession.

The traffic police miserably failed to control the flow of vehicular movement in surrounding areas. As a result of which, thousands of motorists and commuters travelling in public transport were trapped in deluge of vehicles and faced severe hardships for hours.

The traffic police also closed Jamshed road from Teen Hatti and the vehicular traffic was diverted towards Jail road or Nishter road. The closure of Jehangir road chocked the traffic coming towards S.M. Taufiq road in Liaquatabad.

The traffic police had closed the M.A. Jinnah road on Youm-i-Ali for the scheduled annual religious procession.

Similarly, the traffic was diverted towards Garden from Lasbella, as it was not allowed to proceed to Guru Mandir roundabout. As a result, the traffic on Nishter road continued to move at snail’s pace since Monday morning. The situation further aggravated at the point where the traffic coming from Pak Colony joined Nishter road.

Sharea Faisal was also crowded, as most of the motorists were forced to use this artery. The traffic jams were witnessed at the Hotel Metropole, Hotel Regent Plaza, Gora Qabristan, Masjid-i-Roomi and Nursery. The traffic continued to move at snail’s pace on Sharea Faisal throughout the day while intersections connecting it with other arteries also remained choked.

The pressure on the Sharea resulted in increased load of vehicles on adjoining arteries, such as Tipu Sultan road, Karsaz road, and scores of lanes and by-lanes of PECHS and Mohammad Ali Society.

An increase in traffic load was also witnessed on Shahrah-i- Quaideen with motorists skipping the affected section of the Sharea Faisal by taking the non-carpeted Lines Area road to reach Shahrah-i-Quaideen and vice versa.

The hardest hit were those in ambulances who remained stranded in the flood of traffic along with scores of others rushing to the airport to catch flights. The roaring ambulances were witnessed stuck up in the flood of the traffic at some points where there was no way out for them and they also had to wait for hours to take patients to hospitals.

Besides, the pupils, who had reached their schools and educational institutions in the morning, faced severe hardships in getting to their homes at afternoon.