LAHORE, April 13: All major business centres and markets remained closed in the city on Thursday to mourn killings of religious scholars and the folk in Tuesday’s Karachi blast.
The call for the shutterdown strike had been given by the Qaumi Tajir Ittehad.
There was a complete strike in markets of downtown areas like The Mall, Hall Road, Queens Road, Shah Alam Market, Badami Bagh while the Liberty, Model Town, Faisal Town and Iqbal Town markets were also shut. However, drug stores, eateries and shops of automobile mechanics remained open.
Traffic also was thin on roads, especially in the morning, as people faced problems in reaching offices because of shortage of public transport. The traffic improved in the evening but no untoward incident was reported.
Administrations of some private schools chose to close their functioning and sent students back to their homes for fear of recurrence of Feb 14 like incidents.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz, the Daawat-i-Islami, the Sunni Tehrik and others called on DIG (operations) Amir Zulfikar Khan at the latter’s office. They reportedly assured the DIG that their organisations would not join any violent protest over the Karachi incident issue.
It may be mentioned that all religious parties, including the MMA, have called for observing Friday as a protest day against the blast which left over 60 people dead.
GUJRANWALA: The tragic incident moved people in this part of the province as the business community condemned it. Grocers and vendors also joined the protest.
According to reports, almost all the markets remained closed on the call of the trader leaders in Gakkhar town, Kamoki and Wazirabad. Activists of the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat and Sunni Tehrik took out procession to protest against the killings of their leaders in Karaci, and demanded that the goverment should arrest the culprits.
They gathered outside Sheranwala Bagh and later marched on GT Road. The procession terminated at Gondlanwala chowk where the speakers condemned the carnage and demanded that Sindh governor and chief minister, besides interior minister should resign by admitting their failure to maintain law and order.
A protest procession was also taken out in Ghakkhar town and Kamoki by the activists of religious parties after Zohr prayers.
TOBA TEK SINGH: A partial strike was observed in Toba and Gojra, as some small markets remained open. A public meeting was held at Akbari ground which was addressed by Sahibzada Faiz Rasool Siddiqui, Allama Hameeduddin Rizvi, Maulana Sadiq Sialvi and others. They condemned the killings of Sunni scholars and workers in the strongest terms.