The MQM had announced a day of mourning on the funeral of its leader Dr Imran Farooq due to which the trading activity suffered a loss of around Rs3 billion and the industrial units in all the five zones incurred a loss of Rs5 billion, they said.
Karachi Traders Action Committee Chairman Siddiq Memon said that the city wore a deserted look and public and private transport remained off the roads and commercial centres remained closed, amid mourning and security concerns.
He told The News that around 650 containers, carrying warm clothes, shoes, artificial jewellery and other imported items ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, remained stuck up at the Karachi Port.
“Earlier, we had announced that all shops would stay open till 18 hours daily in the run-up to Eid-ul-Azha and from Sunday (today) the markets should have opened, but we had to close trading activity on the fear of security worries.”
He said closure of businesses for one day resulted in a loss of around Rs3 billion to trade.
All the markets, including Tariq Road, Saddar, Clifton, Bahadurabad, Haideri, Jodia Bazaar and MA Jinnah Road remained shut. There are around 580 markets, 227 bazaars, 84 shopping centres and 96 supermarkets in the city, he said.
Jodia Bazaar Traders Association General Secretary Abdul Qadir Noorani said that businesses in the bazaar came to a naught due to security concerns.
“Business in the city is already very tough as rising extortions badly affected trading in the bazaar and traders feel insecure.”
Karachi Electronics Dealers Association General Secretary Rasheed Noorani said that the association had already announced one-day closure amid mourning.
Explaining problems being faced by the traders, he clamoured for extortions and power outages on daily basis.
“Except for today’s incident, generally the government failed to provide proper security to businesses and traders in the city.”
Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) Chairman Syed Johar Ali Kandhari said that on regular Saturdays all the five industrial zones production remained around 60 percent because of closure of banks, ports, Customs House, FBR office and corporate bodies, so the industry had not suffered a heavy loss.
“I hope that we will cover our production on holiday (today) by opening the industrial units.”
Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) Central Chairman Saleem Parekh said that all the industrial zones were closed as workers could not go to their work because of the unavailability of public transport and export orders were delayed for one day due to mourning.
Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Senior Vice President Talat Mehmood expressed concern over deteriorating law and order situation in the city and lambasted the government for its failure to maintain peace in the city
“If the city closes, the main victim is daily wagers who had already been living from hand to mouth,” he said.
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