Sunday, Oct 21, 2007
Gulf News
Dubai: As mourning continues over the carnage in Karachi, people in this largest city of Pakistan with more than 15 million inhabitants are now facing an acute food shortage.
For three consecutive days the wholesale and retail markets including vegetable and fruit markets have been closed - initially due to the massive Pakistan Peoples Party rally on Thursday and fear of clashes on Friday and yesterday.
"People are surviving on minimum food which they kept stored," said Mujahid Rashid, who was pushing his car as he had run out of petrol because petrol stations also remained closed in most areas.
A few were open but had queues of motorcycles and cars snaking back several hundred metres.
Single shop
"I have been driving to get milk for my child for the last two hours but could not find even a single shop open," Rashid said while begging the "militants" to spare Karachi as this city has seen enough bloodshed for so many years.
"We are also expecting a complete shutdown today [Sunday] for the fourth day because it's Sunday [a public holiday in Pakistan]. Life will return to normal only on Monday [tomorrow] if everything remains peaceful," said a police officer, who was patrolling the streets.
The city wore a deserted look as public transport remained off the roads because of the fuel shortage.
Mourning
"We are respecting PPP's call for mourning out of respect for those who died in the bomb explosions," said Qamar Khan, a bus driver.
Attendance in schools and colleges remained slim as both teachers and students stayed home. There was also hardly any attendance in public and private offices. "The city is dangerously calm," said Jamil Baloch, who also attended the comeback rally of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
"I can't believe we had such a big festival [rally] when hundreds of thousands of people gathered here were dancing to the tunes of drumbeats and songs. We were very hopeful but enemies of peace once again brought terror to the city," he said.
Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.
