KARACHI, April 12: Life in city came to a standstill on Wednesday and roads and streets wore a deserted look as a complete shutter down was observed to mourn those who lost their lives in a powerful bomb blast at a religious gathering in Nishtar Park on Tuesday evening.

Amid fears and tension that gripped almost all the localities of the city, people preferred to stay indoors. Shops and markets in all major commercial areas and even in small neighbourhoods remained closed.

The Sindh governor and chief minister had already announced a three-day mourning and the government had ordered closure of all educational institutions for three days.

Public transport remained off the road. The number of private vehicles plying on roads was very thin. Although, the law-enforcement agencies patrolled various areas throughout the day, people seemed afraid of taking their vehicles out.

Groups of angry youth turned violent at some places on Wednesday and set at least four vehicles ablaze. Fire brigade officials said that a car was set on fire near Noorani Kabab House, off Khalid Bin Waleed Road, at around 9am. A coach (PE-2715) was torched near Risala police station at 11:22am and three minutes later, a truck (JA0-4816) was set on fire near Power House, in Federal B Area. A water tanker was also torched at around 11:40am near Yusuf Plaza, Federal B Area. Besides, reports of bonfire were received from various localities, said fire brigade authorities.

But the city police chief, Niaz Siddiki, claimed that only an attempt was made to set a minibus on fire near Risala police station. “Timely action by police saved the minibus from being burnt as it suffered minor damage. No other incident of violence was reported in the city,” he added.

Groups of youths on motorcycles were seen roaming around various localities and pelting stones at moving vehicles. The most troubled part of the city was the portion of the M. A. Jinnah Road between Guru Mandir and Capri Cinema, where violent youths took to the street and lit bonfire. The second troubled spot was the place near the Sunni Tehrik’s headquarters in Bohrapir.

However, the backlash of the suicide bombing was lesser than the Tuesday’s violence in which a fire brigade vehicle and two police vans were set on fire soon after the Nishtar Park blast.

Giving details of the incident, Mohammad Ahmed Siddiqui, secretary information of the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, told Dawn: “I was at the corner of the stage when the bomb exploded. Maulana Syed Abdul Wahab Qadri was leading the Maghrib prayers on the stage and Maulana Shah Turabul Haq was leading the prayers of another group adjacent to the eight-foot high stage.”

He said that it could not be known whether the blast took place on the ground or on the floor of the stage. The religious leaders and scholars were on the stage and they were injured badly, he added.

There were about 100 people on the wooden stage at the time of the explosion. “The intensity of the blast was so severe that it shook the earth but I continued with the prayers,” Maulana Shah Turabul Haq said.

Following the explosion, a thick white smoke hovered over the stage and people started crying, a witness said, adding that ambulances and fire brigade vehicles rushed to the spot and started shifting patients to hospitals.

Soon after the explosion, people turned violent and started beating up police and Rangers personnel. The law-enforcement agencies’ personnel disappeared from the spot. Some violent youths emerged on M. A. Jinnah Road and set a fire brigade vehicle on fire. They also pelted the moving vehicles with stones and blocked the road. Petrol stations in the vicinity were set ablaze and two police mobile vans, one on M. A. Jinnah Road and the other in Soldier Bazaar area, were set on fire.

Medical stores appeared to be among the shops which remained closed since morning causing immense hardship to people.

The All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industries has announced that all activities by its members would remain suspended for three days on account of mourning, adds PPI.

Acting-chairman of the organisation Haji Mohammad Haroon, in a statement, also strongly condemned the incident.