KARACHI, May 16: Markets and shopping centers have yet to witness normal rush of buyers after the May 12 bloody violence in the city. Meanwhile, Rangers have approached the market leaders to lend a helping hand in resolving problems relating to law and order.

The local markets are still in grip of fear and traders say that families still avoid visiting the markets after last week’s violence.Giving details, Chairman Tariq Road Traders Action Committee (TRTAC), Siddique Memon said that a high official of Rangers along with other officials visited his office on Wednesday and assured him that the market situation will improve and come to normalcy very soon.

Memon said that the Rangers also had a Flag March in the area. But traders are of the view that Tariq Road and even other markets area lack security.

He said that the official had invited a 10-member delegation of the association to its headquarters at Dawood College on Thursday to discuss the security and law and order situation around the markets and other problems.

Currently, the market people and even the customers are yet to recover from the May 12 shock. He claimed that Tariq Road used to receive 50,000-60,000 buyers daily but after May 12 only 10,000 to 15,000 buyers are visiting the popular shopping area of the city.

“The presence of families has been very negligible in the market,” he said adding that people will take time to recover from the tragic incidents.

In the absence of any buying euphoria among customers, the KESC resumed load shedding in the markets by shutting off power for four hours on Wednesday after a 3-day closure.

He urged the Sindh governor to allow the traders to keep open their shops after 9:00pm so that business activities could pick up pace as buyers usually prefer visiting markets after sunset.

Vice Chairman Saddar Alliance of Market Association Mohammad Feroz said that the Rangers had not contacted them yet. However, the sales remained hardly at 20 per cent as compared to normal sales prior to May 12 as buyers were still in grip of fear and were not ready to come for shopping “We expect normal sales of over 50 per cent in a day,” he added.

Chairman Alliance of Market Association (AMA) Atiq Mir said that so far neither the Rangers had not made any contact nor the association had sought their help.

In case the Rangers has really taken an initiative to meet market people for resolving their problems then it should consider meeting all the market representatives so that a number of issues could be resolved.

He said that buyers’ presence in the markets has hardly been 10-15 per cent after May 12 as panic has gripped the customers and even traders.

Atiq said during the current peak marriage season, only those buyers are turning up, who have to take deliveries of goods booked earlier, while fresh buying of marriage related items has also been depressed these days.

General Secretary Karachi Retail Grocers Group (KRGG) Farid Qureishi said markets are quiet after May 12 and consumers are purchasing items urgently required.

Meanwhile, Patron-in-Chief of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) S M Munir, Chairman Masood Naqi and other industrialists have urged the government to put a complete ban on processions and rallies in the country, especially in Karachi, which is an economic hub of the country.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Karachi, they said industrial activities had picked up as the law and order situation improved but it was necessary to maintain peace in the city and take necessary measures to unarm political activists.

According to Kati’s press release the prime minister assured the industrialists that the government was fully concerned about the current law and order situation and was taking all necessary measures to control it.