Karachi Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Javed Alam Odho said on Monday that the city’s streets would be cleared of protest sit-ins ahead of Maghreb prayers, saying citizens had “suffered enough” over the past few years. three days.
The sit-ins, which have continued over the past week, blocked major roads to protest the Parachinar killings, demanding measures including the reopening of a road in Parachinar, closed for 90 days, to ensure access to essential food and medicine, according to the traffic police. and organizers.
Activists and leaders of the main religious political party Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) said they would continue sit-ins across Karachi after talks with police and city officials collapsed a day ago. The continuous road blockade caused traffic jams, causing inconvenience to commuters using alternative roads/routes, mostly single-lane vehicles.
A statement from Karachi traffic police spokesperson said that sit-ins were still being held today at 13 places/roads in the city with main MA Jinnah road near Numaish Chowrangi, Kamran Chowrangi in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Jauhar Mor, Gulistan-i. -Jauhar Block-19-20, Safoora Chowrangi, Abul Hasan Ispahani Road, Five Star Chowrangi, University Road near Metro, Shamsuddin Azeemi Road in Surjani Town, Sharea Pakistan in Ancholi, Nawab Siddiqi Ali Khan Road in Nazimabad-1, Power House Chowrangi in Nagan and Sharea Pakistan in Ayesha Manzil closed for traffic with diversions/fixes alternatives for traffic.
Addressing the situation during a news conference at Garden police headquarters, the city’s police chief said authorities had instructed police to “clear” the streets of the ongoing sit-ins.
“Our goal is to clear all roads by tonight,” declared the city’s police chief.
“We will ensure that the roads are clear by Maghreb time,” the AIGP said, adding that the police would act according to the law if anyone resisted.
“We wanted to give relief to the citizens who have suffered a lot during the last three days,” he added.
Odho said that he and the Karachi commissioner held talks with the top leaders of the protest organizers on Sunday night, stating that the latter had also “agreed” to end their protest.
He said that after last night’s talks, the sit-in protest on Sharea Faisal Main Street near Star Gate came to an end today.
However, shortly after, the police chief clarified in a press release that his statement was not aimed at ending the protests but at ensuring that the sit-ins were carried out in a way that did not disrupt the flow of traffic.
Meanwhile, MWM spokesperson Syed Ali Ahmer Zaidi said dawn.com that the central leadership had decided that the sit-ins would continue until the demands were met. However, he said the party had decided that only one lane of a highway would be blocked in protest, while the other lane would remain open to traffic.
He added that the sit-in on the main Sharea Faisal Road near Natha Khan Bridge ended today, however, the sit-in on the National Highway at Malir-15 continued like in other parts of the metropolis.
In a statement, MWM leader Mubashir Hassan said that as long as protests continued in Parachinar, protests in Karachi would also continue.
“If the Sindh government or Sindh police take any action against the protesters, they will be responsible for the situation,” he said. “The Sindh government should stop conspiring against the Parachinar sit-in protest.”
On the other hand, the leader of the Sunni Ulema Council and the banned group Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Allama Mohammed Ahmed Ludhianvi, warned that he would be forced to hold sit-ins at 60 places/roads in Karachi if the current protests did not end in 24 days. hours.
This announcement was made during a press conference in Islamabad.
