KARACHI, Feb 16: Apart from a few isolated incidents of burning of tyres, the mammoth rally held in the city on Thursday against the publication of blasphemous sketches by European press remained peaceful.
Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the rally which was organized by the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat. It started from the Numaish roundabout and culminated at the Tibet Centre.
The incidents of burning of tyres were reported from Sohrab Goth, Gulshan-i-Iqbal and Punjab Colony DHA, but no major violence or untoward incident was reported from any part of the city.
There was a strike-like situation across the city on Thursday as all shopping and business centres remained closed.
The traffic police had kept all roads leading to the M. A. Jinnah Road closed to normal traffic.
Bracing for any trouble, in view of the violent rallies in Peshawar, Lahore and Islamabad over the past few days, the Sindh government had already announced a closed holiday for all educational institutions on Thursday.
All foreign fast-food chains and offices of a Norwegian cellular company were closed since Wednesday with personnel of the law-enforcement agencies seen guarding their premises.
The logos of the phone company were removed from the all its franchise and sales service centres across the city amid fear of being attacked.
Attendance in government, as well as private offices, remained thin as public transport was off the road since morning.
Most of the minibuses and coaches did not operate as the transporters feared damage to their vehicles.
The Karachi Stock Exchange did function but showed a bearish trend due to the uncertain situation in the city, experts said.
Boulton Market, the country’s commodity lifeline, was partially opened whereas the usually busy junction of Empress Market wore a deserted look.
Police had taken extraordinary security measures to ensure peace. Policemen were deployed on almost all buildings around the Quaid’s mausoleum and along the route of the rally. The cinema houses along the rally’s course had covered their facades with huge curtains.
Most of the petrol pumps in the city kept their business closed due which vehicle-owners faced great inconveniences for the public. Vehicles in large numbers were seen waiting for a refuel at many petrol pumps, many of which did open in the evening.
Camps were set up by the Sunni Tehrik, Jamat Ahle Sunnat and Karwan-i-Islami at Numaish roundabout and some other points along M. A. Jinnah Road.
Senior police officials, including DIG Operations, DIG traffic and TPO Saddar, kept patrolling various roads and streets in Saddar to monitor the situation.
