KARACHI: Due to a protest by lawyers, the roads leading to the Sindh Chief Minister’s House were closed and containers installed in Karachi’s PIDC area on Thursday.

As of around 5:40pm, the lawyers’ rally had reached near the Chief Minister’s House, while a heavy police force had been deployed including women police officers.

Roads in and around the area were either blocked to traffic or experiencing heavy congestion following reports of the protest near the site. According to an update by the traffic police, MT Khan Road was partially closed for traffic.

In an alert issued at 4:06pm, the Karachi Traffic Police said that the Sultanabad Traffic Post towards PIDC Chowk and MT Khan Road were closed for traffic.

As an alternate route, traffic was being diverted from the traffic post towards Mai Kolachi Road and Boat Basin, the police said.

Aiwan-i-Sadr Road was also later closed from Fountain Chowk towards Thana Gali, while both lanes of Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road were closed from PIDC towards the Ziauddin signal, according to an update as of 4:41pm.

This created a traffic snarl on both lanes of Khayaban-i-Iqbal Road from Teen Talwar towards Sindh Club Chowk and Fountain Chowk, as well as Sindh Club Road, Din Muhammad Wafai Road (both lanes from MR Kiyani Chowrangi and Shaheen Complex towards PIDC) and Jinnah Bridge (from Jinnah Bridge Roundabout towards Mai Kolachi), police said, citing a rally as the reason for the slow traffic.

They added that the police were “present and managing traffic flow”.

The roads were later reopened from PIDC Chowk towards State Life Building, and from Sultanabad Traffic Post towards PIDC Chowk and MT Khan Road as of updates close to 7pm. Traffic flow was restored in the affected areas “except Fountain Chowk” by 8:30pm.

A lawyer told Dawn that the protesters have 14 demands, mainly against the creation of new administrative units or provinces in Sindh. Various political parties have demanded the creation of more provinces or administrative units for better governance.

“Government interference should be stopped” in regards to corporate farming, the 26th and 27th Amendments, mineral mining in Karunjhar and the release of political prisoners, the lawyer added.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) — an ally of the PML-N-led ruling coalition — has been demanding that Karachi be designated a province separate from Sindh.

However, the PPP, which rules Sindh and is also an ally of the PML-N government at the Centre along with MQM-P, has strongly opposed the suggested move.