MWM protest enters day two, disrupts traffic across Karachi
KARACHI: The sit-ins staged by the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) against the situation in Parachinar city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district spread across Karachi, causing inconvenience to commuters.
The protest sit-ins, which began a day earlier, continued on Friday, blocking key arteries and leaving commuters scrambling during the morning rush.
The clashes in Parachinar have claimed more than 130 lives, with reports emerging of over 100 children dying due to a shortage of medicines in the city.
However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif has refuted these reports of child fatalities in the district.
Kurram, a tribal district of around 600,000 near the border with Afghanistan, has been a flashpoint for tensions for decades.
Fresh clashes erupted last month, triggering a humanitarian crisis with reports of starvation, lack of medicine and oxygen shortages following the blocking of the main highway connecting Kurram’s main city of Parachinar to Peshawar.
Meanwhile, MA Jinnah Road at Numaish Chowrangi is closed to traffic. Motorists are being diverted through Secretariat Chowrangi and Guru Mandir to Soldier Bazaar as alternative routes.
Additionally, roads from Abu Al Hasan Isphahani Road to Super Highway Abbas Town remain blocked. Traffic is being rerouted from Paradise Bakery towards Fariya Chowk.
Five Star Chowrangi is also closed; however, traffic is moving via the service road. Alternative routes within inner-city areas are being utilised to maintain the flow of vehicles.
On Sharea Faisal, the stretch from Star Gate to Malir is inaccessible, and traffic is being directed from Drigh Road to Rashid Minhas Road.
The National Highway at the Malir 15 Bridge incline towards Quaidabad is blocked. Traffic is being diverted from Malir Halt to Model Colony, while vehicles are being rerouted from Manzil Pump to Younus Chowrangi and from Daud Chowrangi to the Industrial Area.
