KARACHI, April 23: A mourning procession to mark Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) on Wednesday was taken out from Nisther Park. It terminated at Hussainian Iranian Imambargah at Kharadar after passing through its traditional route — Empress Market and M. A. Jinnah Road.

Heavy contingents of law enforcement agencies were deployed along the procession route to maintain law and order and meet any eventuality.

Different scouts and welfare organizations pitched their tents to assist and guide the mourners along the procession’s route in general and at Purani Numaish (Old Exhibition) intersection in particular.

Ambulances made available by Edhi Foundation and other welfare organizations remained standby. Arrangement for first aid to the needy mourners were also made.

Allama Talib Jauhari spoke at the main congregation held in Nishter Park and narrated the event of Karbala and martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), Ahl-i-Bait and their companions about 1,400 years back. He urged the mourners and Ummah to follow the footsteps of the great Imam and work for the glory of Islam.

A number of small processions were taken out from other localities of the city and joined the main procession which started its march towards the Hussainian Iranian after Allama Jauhari’s address.

As announced by the authorities earlier, vehicular traffic was diverted to alternative routes while M. A. Jinnah Road remained closed during the march by the processionists.

The traffic police, however, failed in maintaining a smooth flow of traffic on different arteries and check violation of traffic rules. As a result, thousands of commuters faced immense hardship and stranded on different roads for several hours.

At many places, personnel of traffic police were seen chatting with each other ignoring traffic jam and clogging.

The police had also closed Jamshed Road from Teen Hatti side and diverted the traffic towards Jail Road/Nishter Road. The closure of Jehangir Road led to the clogging along S. M. Taufiq Road in Liaqautabad.

The Lasbela-Guru Mandir route was also closed and the traffic was diverted towards Garden from Lasbela side. The resulted in a mess on Nisther Road where traffic flew at a snail’s pace right from the morning. The situation aggravated further as traffic from Pak Colony also converged at Nishter Road.

Commuters, finding the only favourable route, moved to Sharea Faisal which accommodated a big input from all the side roads but eventually turned congested in a few hours. Traffic jams were witnessed around Metropole Hotel, as well as Lucky Star in Saddar and many other link roads.