Sit-ins against Parachinar situation expand in Karachi
A religiopolitical party protesting the killings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Parachinar district expanded its protest in Karachi on Thursday, prompting traffic authorities to issue traffic plans to avoid inconveniences to the commuters.
Violent clashes, which claimed over 100 lives in October, have cut KP’s Kurram off from the rest of the country.
On Sunday night, two people were killed and later decapitated after being waylaid on their way towards Parachinar in the Bagan area of Kurram.
Dawn reported that Ishaq Hussain and Waseem Hussain, residents of Parachinar who had returned from abroad, had hired people to help them return to their hometown. They were intercepted by the suspects on their way, however, and shot dead followed by decapitation.
The Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) staged sit-ins on MA Jinnah Road and Abbas Town on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road to show solidarity with heirs of the victims of the Parachinar situation for the past three days.
On Thursday night, the third venue of the sit-in was expanded to the Malir area on the main National Highway.
A traffic police spokesperson said in a statement that the “main National Highway from Malir-15 Bridge towards Quaidabad was closed for traffic due to the sit-in.”
“The traffic is being diverted from Malir towards Model Colony,” it added.
Earlier, the MWM said in a statement that their sit-in at Numaish Chowrangi continued consecutively on Thursday amid the situation in Parachinar. Speaking on the occasion, MWM central leader Allama Hasan Zafar Naqvi said they were holding a peaceful demonstration against “barbarianism”.
In view of expected protests and sit-ins across Karachi from Thursday night, traffic police have chalked out a traffic plan for Sharea Pakistan from Star Gate/Natha Khan, National Highway (Malir-15), Sharea Pakistan (Ancholi), Rizvia Chowrangi (Nazimabad), Abbas Town, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Korangi, Gulshan-i-Maymar, Steel Town/Gulshan-i-Hadeed and North Karachi/Surjani Town.
By 9:43pm, traffic police issued another statement announcing that roads leading to and from Sharea Faisal were closed due to the demonstrations.
“Members of a religiopolitical party are staging a protest against the incident in Parachinar,” the statement read.
“Traffic coming from Star Gate is being diverted from Shah Faisal Colony Bridge to Shah Faisal Colony and traffic coming from the city is being diverted from Drigh Road to Rashid Manhas Road,” the statement added.