Fear and tension continued to grip the city on Sunday due to ongoing protest demonstrations organized by religious groups at different locations of the metropolis. The business and commercial activities across the city was badly affected. Social media, facebook, twitter etc, remained suspended since Saturday last. Public transport remained thin whereas schedule of trains, flights and inter-city buses were delayed for hours. Several petrol pumps, shopping malls, roadside hotels, cinemas, etc, remained closed.
The sit-ins were held at some 12 locations of the metropolis including M.A. Jinnah Road, Teen Hatti, Liaqatabad No.10, Sohrab Goth, Landhi No.6, Korangi Awami Colony and Nasir Jump, Tower, Saddar, Power House, etc. Dozens of containers, trucks and buses were parked at the Water Pump and Sohrab Goth areas, creating hurdles for police to regulate traffic movement.
The city police evolved alternate traffic plan for roads linked to sit-in locations, however commuters faced severe hardships due to massive gridlocks at various arteries.
The ongoing protests by religious groups are aimed at expressing solidarity with the workers of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasoolullah (TLYRA) who have been protesting at the Faizabad Interchange between Islamabad and Rawalpindi against the change in the legal oath of the belief in the finality of Prophethood (Khatm-e-Nabuwat) when the government passed the Elections Act 2017, last month. The government dubbed the change as a clerical error and has already reversed.
Unlike Saturday, the law enforcement agencies did not take any action against the protesters; however, police officials were seen deployed at the each demo site to avoid any untoward situation. Due to security reasons, roads leading to the Sindh Governor House were blocked by placement of heavy containers.
No major incident was reported till the filing of this report; however, a handful number of enraged protesters attacked Korangi DC office as they stormed into it, ransacked the furniture and broke windows of the building. Meanwhile, police reached the site and controlled the situation. Not a single culprit involved in the attack was arrested.
Karachi's major sit-in continued at the MA Jinnah Road as hundreds of protesters, mostly youths, were seen raising slogans against government at the venue.
As TLYRA has given a call for a two-day countrywide strike, the Sindh Government first announced that educational institutions would remain opened on Monday but later Aaj News reported that Sindh Education Minister announced closure of educational institutions in view of tense situation. Meanwhile, a section of Private Schools' Association, Karachi, announced that all the schools would remain closed on Monday.
Considering the uncertain situation, the University of Karachi (UoK) has also announced to suspend examination papers to be held the same day but at a meeting at the Commissioner House, the decision was reversed but the minister Jam Mehtab Dahar's statement implied that UoK would also remained closed, although no separate statement regarding it was issued, in this connection. Educational activities would also remain suspended at the Federal Urdu University and Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU).
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