Karachi shuts down to mourn Shikarpur tragedy

Karachi
Almost all major shopping centres in Karachi remained shut and public transport vehicles stayed off the roads on Saturday to observe a strike called by the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen to protest against the bomb blast on an imambargah in Shikarpur a day earlier and to mourn the death of over 60 people in the attack.
Two other representative bodies of the Shia community, the Shia Ulema Council and the Jafaria Alliance, also backed the strike call as well as the provincial government and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
The MWM had also announced a three-day mourning period. It staged protests at many areas of the city including Numaish Chowrangi, Abul Hassan Ispahani Road, Five Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad, Malir 15, Star Gate and near Incholi on Shahrah-e-Pakistan.
The protesters said the government had failed to protect citizens’ lives and called for the deployment of troops in the province.
Shia clerics criticised the government for its failure in taking action against terrorists and preventing attacks like the one in Shikarpur.
The protests were called off in the evening and MWM leaders asked traders and transporters to resume their businesses.
To express solidarity with the Shia community, MQM activists and supporters wore black wristbands and the party hoisted black flags on its offices.
Eight protesters participating in the sit-ins were arrested by police but later released over the MWM’s pressure. Similar sit-ins and rallies were staged in other cities and towns of the province including Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Kashmore, Larkana, Dadu, Sehwan Sharif, Kotri, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Matli, Tando Bago, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Sanghar, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas, Larkana, Dadu, Khairpur, Thatta, Umerkot and Hyderabad.

Three vehicles torched
A public transport bus, a courier company truck and a goods carrier were torched on Sharea Faisal late Friday night in protests that broke out in the wake of the bomb attack on an imambargah in Shikarpur.

Govt to pay medical bills
All expenses for the treatment of people who were injured in the suicide attack in Shikarpur will be borne by the government, announced Sindh Health Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar.
According to a handout, he said emergency had been declared in all government and private hospitals of Shikarpur and Larkana districts and all the medical staff was called on duty and were asked to donate blood to save peoples’ lives.

Courts closed
Lawyers also observed a complete boycott of courts on Saturday to condemn the suicide bomb blast.
Following the appeal for strike made by the Sindh Bar Council, the lawyers suspended all activities and locked the gates of the courts in all five districts of the city as well as in Malir.
Lawyers of the Sindh High Court, the Karachi Bar Association and the Malir Bar Association did not appear before any courts and the defendants brought to the courts were taken back to jail.