KARACHI: The city braced for a complete shutdown on Saturday as the strike announced by traders on Friday to mark a ‘black day’ against extortion threats won support from political parties including the key Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The MQM also plans to protest the “partisan and autocratic attitude” of Pakistan People’s Party lawmakers on Saturday.
Fuel stations and transport bodies expressed their reluctance to operate on the day and educational institutions announced postponement of all scheduled activities.
The strike call by the traders came as a surprise to many as it was only on Thursday that leaders of the city markets along with traders met police authorities at the central police office and, following their meeting, expressed satisfaction over the measures promised and pledged their cooperation with the law-enforcement agencies.
When asked about the sudden volte-face, the leaders of the city’s retail and wholesale markets said that the police ‘failed’ to deliver on their promises and traders were threatened with extortion on Friday as well, which ‘forced’ them to go for this ‘extreme move.’
“We were under immense pressure from our colleagues in hundreds of markets to call a shutter-down strike,” said Ateeq Meer of the All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, a platform of more than 300 city markets.
“Earlier, we had announced plans for a sit-in on M.A. Jinnah Road but called it off after assurances by the city police chief. On Thursday, we were once again given guarantees by the Sindh IG but today traders are again getting calls. To top it all, the police aren’t even bothering to trace the callers through their contact numbers.”
According to him, the representatives of the city markets’ association after an urgent meeting decided to call a ‘shutter-down strike’ which attracted support from several political parties including the MQM, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Sunni Tehreek.
The strike call by the traders against extortion came as a grim reminder of the shutdown almost exactly a year ago. In April 2011 the city’s commercial activities had also come to a grinding halt in a protest against the same menace and that time as well the government’s coalition partner, the MQM, had emerged as the main political party supporting the move.
The political parties and the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry — the key body representing industrial and conventional businesses — voiced their support and educational institutions announced the postponement of the scheduled exams minutes after the traders’ decision.
The Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) announced on Friday that the Secondary School Certificate (Class IX and X) annual examinations practical scheduled for Saturday had been postponed.
The BSEK controller of examinations, Rafia Mallah, told Dawn that though the new dates for Saturday’s postponed practical exams would be announced later by the schools concerned, all those Class IX and X practical exams scheduled for Monday would be conducted as per original timetable.
The Private Schools’ Management Association (PSMA) chairman Sharfuzzaman announced that all the private schools of the city would remain closed on Saturday in view of the city’s law and order situation.
A spokesman for the Karachi University said that the university would remain open on Saturday and academic activities will continue as usual.
A spokesman for the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology said MA annual examination (private) scheduled for Saturday would now be held on Monday.
Meanwhile, transport bodies and association of fuel station owners, while sounding unsure about the fate of their regular business on Saturday, refused to commit to a decision at this point.
“We have not yet reached a final decision,” said Irshad Bukhari of the Karachi Transport Ittehad, adding only the ‘given situation’ on Saturday would lead to any decision from the transporters.
According to petroleum dealers, they were ‘still discussing the situation’ before making any announcement. “The 170 CNG stations in the city will definitely remain closed under the gas load management,” said Abdul Sami Khan of the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association. “The fate of the remaining 350 petrol pumps is not yet clear. So we are taking up the matter with our members and so far no decision has been made.” The closure of CNG stations in the city for 24 hours on Saturday from 9am onwards under gas load management will further trim the number of vehicles of roads.