• Women’s rally demands expulsion of American ambassador over killing of 11 people near US consulate
• Traffic mess in city’s downtown as key roads closed for security
• Protest demos, marches also held in other Sindh cities

KARACHI: A large number of people, including women, took to the streets on Friday to protest against the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the killing of 11 protesters in Karachi during a protest near the US consulate.

Special security arrangements were taken for the rallies and protest demonstrations.

While M.T. Khan Road and Mai Kolachi Roads have remained closed to vehicular traffic for many days, the closure of other key links due to religious parties’ protest rallies has caused a traffic mess in the city’s downtown.

The commuters faced long delays on connecting routes, mainly in Saddar, with traffic spilling over into adjoining roads and intersections throughout the central business district.

The main event in the city on Friday was a women-only rally organised by the Dukhtaran-i-Rahbar-i-Moazzam.

Carrying banners, placards and Iranian flags, the women and children chanted slogans, the women, along with children, from Mehfil Shah-i-Khurasan to Imambargah Ali Raza off M.A. Jinnah Road.

The rally participant condemned the US-Israel forces and the bombing of civilians in settled urban areas and chanted anti-US and Israel slogans. They also carried portraits of Khamenei.

The speakers were of the firm view that the assassination of Khamenei was a major tragedy for the Muslim world.

The rally also paid tribute to those killed on March 1 while protesting outside the US Consulate, praising their sacrifices and pledging to continue their mission.

Several speakers addressed the march, including chief of Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) women wing Javedan Faheem, Mehjabeen Naqvi, prominent scholar Professor Masooma Shirazi, Dr Syeda Sarah Kazmi, Advocate Farheen Zahra and Zahra Naqvi.

In a statement issued at the end of the march, the organisers demanded that the government declare the US ambassador persona non grata and expel him from the country.

They also called for the closure of the US embassy and consulates, the immediate registration of cases against those responsible for the killings of protesters and action against foreign personnel allegedly involved in the deaths of youths in Karachi.

The statement further demanded the immediate release of detainees arrested during the protests and an end to further arrests.

The participants urged the federal government to adopt a clear and decisive stance regarding the current regional situation while safeguarding the interests of the Muslim world.

JI holds demos across city

The city chapter of the Jamaat-i-Islami also staged protest demonstrations across the city after Friday prayers.

The party said that it organised protests at 100 different spots in the city where the demonstrators demanded that the government and opposition parties openly condemn the US and Israel and announce their support for Iran.

It said that the leaders at demonstrations lauded Iran’s courage and steadfastness in the face of aggression and terrorism by the US and Israel.

They said the people of Karachi stand with their brothers in Gaza and Iran and will not leave them alone in this difficult time.

Rallies against the US-Israel blitz on Iran and assassination of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continued in different other areas of Sindh including Larkana, Nawabshah, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Kandhkot, Shikarpur and Ghotki districts.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2026