KARACHI, Dec 29 Charred skeletons of dozens of vehicles and hundreds of blackened shops, many still smouldering, reflected on Tuesday what had happened there on Monday as the city wore a deserted look with public and private vehicles off the streets and all major shopping and commercial centres closed.

Unlike in the past, life did not crawl back to normality even late in the evening though no violent incident was reported in any part of the city in the aftermath of the deadly attack on the 10th Muharram procession.

By and large people chose to remain indoors amid fear and tension as even paan-cigarette cabins and small confectionery stalls, a permanent feature of almost every locality, were closed.

Heavy contingents of Rangers and police were deployed in sensitive areas, and the law-enforcers intensified patrolling across the city.

While the public transport did not appear, private cars and motorbikes also remained off roads with almost all petrol pumps and gas stations closed.

Most petrol pumps and gas stations went dry as the oil marketing companies carriers could not come onto the streets due to the total shutdown.

Life in the provincial capital literally came to a complete halt as the mourning day was observed by the supporters of the government, its allied parties and the opposition. The provincial government had announced a public holiday to mourn the deaths.All commercial and shopping centres and wholesale markets, including the Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market off the Superhighway, remained closed in every part of the city. Roadside and chain restaurants, tea stalls, fruit and vegetables vendors were also closed.

There was an acute shortage of milk, vegetables and fruit in the city. Although vegetables and fruit had arrived in the New Sabzi Mandi from the interior of Sindh, they could not be supplied to the city.

The fruit and vegetable traders said the city was bound to feel the impact of the complete shutterdown in the next two to three days if the stocks of perishable vegetables and fruits exhausted.

The shortage of fresh milk already started wreaking havoc on the people as all milk outlets were closed since Monday morning.According to the Dairy Farmers' Association, the milk could not be supplied from the pens to the city as the transporters chose to remain off the streets.

The short supplies of fruit and vegetable would definitely lead to an unwarranted increase in the prices of vegetables and fruit in every nook and cranny of the city, he said.

He said the retailers had stocks for three to four days and they would surely sell the commodities at exorbitant rates.

Meanwhile, the Karachi Transport Ittehad, the prime body of different transport associations, said that the public transporters did not bring their vehicles on roads to mourn Monday's losses.

KTI chairman Syed Irshad Bukhari told Dawn that the transporters would resume their normal business on Wednesday, when public transport would be available to the public as normal.