KARACHI: A judicial magistrate has ordered the newly inaugurated branch of Imtiaz Supermarket in Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighbourhood to remain closed between 3:30pm to 9:30 pm until further notice.

This order was issued on account of severe tailback of traffic in the area.

The requisition came after the store's management failed to allocate their own parking space for customers despite promising to do so in an undertaking given to the East deputy commissioner (DC) Asif Jan Siddiqui.

"I hereby order for closure of your store during timings from 3:30pm to 9:30pm," reads the order issued by the magistrate to the store’s management.

The store shall be monitored during its working hours and if the inconvenience continues, the store might be ordered to close permanently, the order further stated.

"You were warned to find a solution to the parking and traffic problem," the order read.

Clientele of Imtiaz Supermarket is as large as 700 to 800 vehicles at a time. Thus, it is problematic that the store does not have an adequate parking facility, thereby causing traffic congestion at Rashid Minhas Road, the order said.

Closing the store in the given hours is the only solution until an effective parking plan is devised by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, it added.

The store gained massive traction on the day of its opening – May 27 – when thousands of customers showed up.

The store's management arranged for parking in the adjoining Lyari riverbed, but was asked by authorities to find a permanent solution to the problem.