2 weeks back whole Shara-e-Faisal was closed down for PPP's 18th October anniversary.
Hardly 6 days back when Sunni Tehreek's cheif gangster's stupid security guard mistakenly shot himself during a protest, Sunni Tehreek's terrorist here in Karachi went berserk and forcefully closed down businesses and resorted to firing and arson which resulted in MASSIVE traffic jams on major roads and closure of businesses all across Karachi.
Attack rumours spark violence in Karachi
http://public.dawn.com/2010/10/30/attack-rumours-spark-violence.html
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5935/116201071217am.jpg
Now today yet again Karachi is being closed down,Reason for this complete shut down of Karachi is that dead body of an absconder who had fled this city while sporting a beard and a wig in 1999 is being transferred and transported back to the city for last rites.During his final days he had been sidelined and literally expelled from the party which he was founding member of,leaders and activists of the party were barred from keeping any type of contact with him. But ever since his sudden,shocking & unexplainable death some 2 months back MQM and its senior leaders have been painstakingly trying to give an impression that everything was OK and he had no differences with Mafia chief Altaf.
Altaf Hussain even resorted to exquisitely orchestrated melodrama in which he shed crocodile tears like a new born infant. (
Video #3 )
Guilty conscience often leads to such emotional performances by absconding grand terrorist just like this performance(Video #1) after 9th April arson attack in which MQM Altaf's terrorist locked up and burnt down 10 men/women and shot down 48 others and torched 60 vechicles. Altaf Hussain and his gang over the years have perfected the art of killing and buring down people and then hijacking the dead bodies and claiming that all the victims were their own 'hamdards' and activists and then shedding crocodiles tears for them afterward.
Anyways coming back to the topic,Goons from Mafia gang MQM Altaf notorious for violence,bloodshed and arson had in advance intimidated and threatened all shopkeepers and transporters to keep their businesses closed and transport off the road on the burial day or else they would themselves be responsible for the consequences.
Traders,transporters and private institutions have announced that they are closed on Saturday.
Bottom line is that notorious terrorists have hijacked the public and rule this city with impunity and they are given official patronage and protocol.
Video #1 Murderer Altaf Shedding crocodile tears for victims of 9th April Tahir Plaza arson attack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q9h_6KaGTo&feature=player_embedded
Video #2 Dependents of Tahir Plaza arson attack victims still waiting for justice as killer remain at large..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8UgftCVrC0&feature=player_embedded
Absconder Altaf shedding crocodile tears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhio8Jfqxkg&feature=player_embedded
Firing, arson(by MQM Altaf's unit terrorists) sow fear in city
KARACHI, Nov 5: Scattered incidents of firing and arson on Friday forced the businesses to close hours before their scheduled time with the traffic becoming thin on the roads as fear gripped the city on the eve of the burial of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Dr Imran Farooq.
Nearly an hour before sunset shops started closing in different localities, mainly in the central district of the city, where heavy gunfire forced traders to pull down shutters. Police confirmed that the firing incidents were reported in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, North Nazimabad and Liaquatabad.
A minibus was set on fire near the Power House traffic intersection of Federal B Area and another bus met the same fate in Sector L-1 of Surjani Town. Business in the Saddar and old city areas were also closed after sunset.
Though there was no official word from the police authorities about the reason behind the anxiety among the citizens, the fear of any untoward incident was found common among Karachiites. In a few areas, traders complained that they were forced to close business by armed men.
A large number of petrol pumps and CNG stations also started wrapping up their business hours before the regular time, while a few that remained open handled long queues of vehicles.
The traders’ bodies have already announced that they would keep business in major markets and commercial centres closed on Saturday for “security reasons and mourning”.
Late in the night, the transporters also announced that they would not operate vehicles on Saturday.
“After a meeting of senior members of the body, we have decided to keep our vehicles off the roads on Saturday,” said Irshad Bukhari, president of the Karachi Transport Ittehad.
The police on the other hand chalked out a security plan for the shifting of Dr Farooq’s body from the airport to Nine Zero and then burial of the leader.
“More than 3,000 policemen will be deputed for the overall security arrangement,” said an official privy to the decision taken at a recent meeting of security officials without elaborating the route map of the body’s transfer.
“Similarly, 40 mobile vans of the Rangers carrying armed personnel would assist the police under the security plan. The motorcycle squad and four APCs (armored personnel carriers) would also be deputed for the purpose.”
http://public.dawn.com/2010/11/06/firing-arson-sow-fear-in-city.html
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Industrial, business activities come to a halt By Aamir Shafaat Khan
Sunday, 07 Nov, 2010
KARACHI, Nov 6: Production remained suspended in the city’s four main industrial areas while all wholesale and retail markets were completely closed as slain MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq was buried here on Saturday.
Owing to absence of public transport people failed to reach their workplaces. Workers living in the surroundings of the industrial areas marked their presence but couldn’t energise normal production.
There was complete suspension in the two-way container and truck movement of goods to and from the port, industries and markets.
Though industrial associations had not announced holiday on Saturday but attendance remained thin in their units.
A large number of people on daily wages in the markets and industries were deprived of the day’s income.
However, many industries had called upon their staffers and workers on Sunday to cover up Saturday’s productivity losses.
CNG and Petroleum Dealers Association Chairman Abdul Sami Khan said that out of 300 CNG pumps and 400 petrol pumps, over 90 per cent remained shut.
Site Association of Trade and Industry Chairman Abdul Wahab Lakahni said only 25-30 per cent of workers living in nearby areas arrived but industrialists could not start their machines owing to low strength.
F.B. Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI) Chairman Mohammad Irfan said only 15-20 per cent production work in the morning shift was witnessed.
North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry Chairman Faraz Mirza said that hardly two per cent production was achieved as majority of workers did not turn up.
Sources in Korangi industrial area said that almost all the industrial units were closed after announcement by traders and transporters to keep their work suspended on Saturday.
President Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market Super Highway Haji Shahjehan said hardly five to 10 per cent sales were recorded as traders did not arrive due to market closure.
http://www.dawnexhibitions.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/business/industrial,-business-activities-come-to-a-halt-710
By Imran Ayub
KARACHI, Nov 6: The city was completely shut down on Saturday apparently because of widespread fear blended with mourning as the body of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Dr Imran Farooq was flown in from London and was later buried in Federal B Area amid a few incidents of arson and shooting.
Though the traders, who had already announced that they would keep major commercial houses and business centres closed on the burial day of Dr Farooq, shops inside thickly populated residential areas also remained shut throughout the day. Almost the same situation was witnessed on roads where life remained paralysed after a late-night announcement by the transporters` body to keep the vehicles off the roads.
Life in the city, which started witnessing incidents of firing and arson on Thursday evening, came virtually to a halt with no sign of regular business and social activity across the metropolis. Even beggars were nowhere to be seen, so complete was the shutdown.
“The decision to keep the vehicles off the roads was taken after deliberations with members of our organisation,” said Irshad Bukhari, president of the Karachi Transport Ittehad. “A few incidents on Thursday evening further discouraged transporters from operating their vehicles and even today (Saturday) we have reports of attacks on public transport in a few areas.”
Mr Bukhari`s findings matched with the data collected by the central fire station that recorded at least three incidents of arson in different parts of the city, where armed men intercepted the vehicles before setting them on fire.
A motorcycle was also set on fire in Khawaja Ajmer Nagri after a brief exchange of fire between workers of two political parties. Though the area police claimed to have controlled the situation, the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital received two injured from the affected part that included an MQM worker identified as Imran, said to be in his early 20s.
“In Pak Colony, a rickshaw was set on fire and in Saeedabad a minibus (JE-9285) met the same fate,” said an official at the central fire station.
In North Nazimabad two young men associated with the MQM received bullet wounds in firing, but people behind the incident remained untraced. Though the victims blamed the Rangers for the firing, the police said they were still investigating the incident.
“Two MQM workers — Shahzad and Imran, in his mid-30s and residents of Orangi Town — received a single bullet wound each in firing near the Five-Star traffic intersection, within the remit of the Shahrah-i-Noor Jehan police station,” said SP Malik Zafar Iqbal of North Nazimabad Town.
“They accused the Rangers of firing, but we didn`t have any such reports. Initial findings suggested that the two youngsters collided with a bus that led to an exchange of hot words and then firing from an unknown side. Both have been shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment.”
Major business centres and markets remained closed following the announcement made by the traders` association a couple of days ago. They referred to their decision both as a sign of mourning and security measures.
“We even kept the businesses closed on the very next day when Dr Farooq was murdered in London,” said Siddiq Memon of the Karachi Traders Action Committee. “Security has always been an issue in this city for the traders and we prefer protection of life and property of our members to business.”
However, he said, the traders were likely to operate on Sunday to make up for the losses to some extent and meet business commitments which could not materialise on Saturday.
http://public.dawn.com/2010/11/07/fear-mourning-behind-city-shutdown.htm
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Rumour has it…
Rumours can work perfectly normal folks into a paranoid frenzy. And when one factors in the role cellphones, television and modern technology can play in fanning rumours, the results are not pretty. In the context of Karachi rumour-mongering can have extremely destructive consequences and it can take the smallest spark to ignite a fire that has the potential to engulf large parts of the city in mayhem. Eighteen million paranoid, frenzied souls is a recipe for disaster.
Take the example of one recent Friday night. As this writer rode the old two-wheeler home from work in the evening there was an unusual sense of unease in the air. Of course being a citizen of Karachi, where violent crime, ethnic, political and sectarian ‘targeted’ killings and random mob violence has become quite the disturbing norm, there’s nothing strange about unease. But that particular evening Karachi’s commuters seemed to be in an unusually frantic rush to get home, more so than the usual madness that is witnessed everyday during rush hour on the metropolis’s roads.
Major commercial centres had closed down way earlier than usual, an instant giveaway that something was fishy. After having made my way through intense traffic to the mother-ship in North Nazimabad, I noticed a number of missed calls from relatives and friends on my cellphone.
When I called people back I had nearly the identical conversation with each person. Everyone was calling to inquire about my safety. A relative asked me what was wrong, to which I replied that I hadn’t the foggiest. “Apparently, someone important has been shot”, he told me. When I inquired who this person was, he was clueless. “I’m not sure who it is, but they say it is someone important”, he said.
I asked my relative where he had heard the news of the shooting from. None of the channels had the details of the “important” person supposedly gunned down, but the rumour had been spread by word of mouth and through text messages. The actual details emerged in the morning when the papers were consulted: it had been rumoured that the leader of a religio-political party had been attacked in Pakpattan. This was, of course, not true, but it helped spark panic in the city, with the result that several vehicles were torched and quite a few localities of Karachi reverberated with gunfire.
Though the media, specifically the electronic media, has often been accused of sensationalising news, for the most part in this case the media acted responsibly. However, Karachiites are always on edge and hence even unconfirmed stories can travel around the city within minutes courtesy cellphones and text messages. Perhaps we as citizens should take more care when forwarding such ‘news’.
There’s little we can do about controlling law and order in Karachi; what we can do is try our best not to let half-baked rumours bring normal life to a grinding halt.—QAM
http://public.dawn.com/2010/11/08/rumour-has-it.html
