KARACHI: Uneasy calm in Malir

Published August 2, 2002

KARACHI, Aug 1: An uneasy clam prevailed in Malir for the third consecutive day on Thursday as shops and businesses remained partly closed.

Similarly, schools scheduled to reopen on Thursday after summer vacations also remained closed due to prevailing tension in the locality.

Traffic remained thin in the effected localities of Saudabad, Model Colony, Malir City and Malir Colony. However, traffic was normal on Sharea-i-Faisal.

People, who wanted to reach their workplaces, faced difficulties in the morning when they did not find public transport.

Most of them had to walk down to Sharea Faisal at bus stops at Malir Kala Board, Malir Halt and Malir 15, to take the public transport as traffic was plying normally on the main artery.

However, those, who living far away from Sharea Faisal could not reach there, and had to return home.

Residents, said that there was some sense of normalcy on Thursday as intermittent firing had relatively died down since early Thursday morning.

Heavy contingents of law-enforcement agencies continued to patrol the troubled areas.

The police said law and order problem arose in the Haqiqi-dominated areas of Malir when the police picked up some suspects in connection with the killing of Zahid Khan, who had been gunned down in Saudabad on July 19.

Intense aerial firing was witnessed for the last two days due fear and panic which gripped almost entire Malir, and shops and markets remained closed.