All the major business and shopping centres in the three sub-divisions of Hyderabad remained closed on Friday. Anyway, most of the shopping centres do remain closed on Fridays as is the usual practice.
Anaaj Mandi, Shahi Bazaar, Gul Centre, District Council Shopping Centre, and all the main markets of Latifabad and Qasimabad remained closed. However, the roadside hotels, cigarette shops, general and medical stores remained opened.
A number of fruit-sellers could be seen with their pushcarts on Hali road. The chappal shops on the Gharib Nawaz bridge also remained open.
There was no pressure from the religious parties on the people to close down their shops.
Rickshaws and pickups plied on the roads as usual. However, due to it being Friday as well as a public holiday, traffic remained thin. Few buses plied between the city and interior towns.
No untoward incident was reported from anywhere.
Our Sukkur correspondent adds: Complete strike was observed in Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kandhkot, Ghotki and other parts of upper Sindh on the call of Pak-Afghan Defence Council on Friday.
The markets and trade centres remained closed throughout the day and the traffic was also thin.
Rallies were taken out in Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kandhkot and Ghotki.
In Jacobabad more than 10 persons were arrested.
A procession was also taken out in Jacobabad.
In Ghotki protest procession was taken out from Madressah Wahdat-ul-Uloom.
Our Sanghar correspondent adds: No strike was observed in the district headquarters town. Due to it being Friday as well as a public holiday shops as usual remained closed.
However, vegetable and fruit markets and hotels remained open.
Our Badin correspondent adds: Complete strike was observed in Badin and other towns of the district on Friday.
Even though the district Nazim, Kamal Khan Chang, and the police district chief had assured shopkeepers and traders that they would be provided protection, most people preferred to keep their shops closed.
Traffic remained thin on the roads.
Our Naushahro Feroze correspondent adds:
Strike was observed in the district and rallies were taken out in various towns.
Our Dadu correspondent adds: A partial strike was observed in Dadu, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Mehar, Johi, Bhan Saeedabad, Sehwan Sharif, Jamshoro, and Kotri towns on Friday.
A heavy contingent of police was deployed at bazaars, roads and mosques in various towns of the district. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the district.
Our Mirpurkhas correspondent adds: Partial strike was observed in Mirpurkhas on Friday to protest against the US attacks on Afghanistan.
Some markets like the Cloth Market, Khisakpura, Golden Market, and the Municipal Shopping Centre remained closed while others on the Sir Syed road, M.A. Jinnah road, Iqbal road, Station Chowk, Hirabad Chowk, and Mohajir Colony road remained opened.
Strike was also observed in Digri, Mirwah, Samaro, and Umerkot.
Our Shikarpur correspondent adds: Strike was observed on the call of the PADC on Friday and a rally was taken out by JUI activists in the morning.
The protesters marched through the Shahi Bazaar Hathi Gate, Dadwal road, Stuart Gunj, and Station road. They staged a sit-in at Rustam Chowk and blocked the National Highway for two hours.
After Juma prayers, the activists of the JUI, JI, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, and Sipah-i-Sahaba took out a rally from Madarsa Qaderia.
However, no untoward incident occurred during the strike.
Our Thatta correspondent adds:
A partial strike was observed in Thatta District.
In Banno and Sujawal towns, some general stores and cigarette shops remained closed till the afternoon. Vehicles could be seen plying on the roads as on other days.
In Thatta town, some activists burnt tyres on the main bypass road.
No untoward incident was reported from any part of the district.