Roads have been blocked, and the traffic has been badly affected in Karachi’s PIDC area on Thursday after lawyers held a protest near the Sindh Chief Minister’s House.
Containers were placed on roads leading towards the Chief Minister’s House to stop traffic from entering the area.
By around 5:40 PM, the lawyers’ rally had reached near the Chief Minister’s House. A large number of police officers were deployed in the area. Women police officers were also present.
Which roads are blocked in Karachi today?
Several roads around PIDC were either closed or facing heavy traffic because of the protest.
Karachi Traffic Police said in an alert at 4:06 PM that the Sultanabad Traffic Post towards PIDC Chowk and MT Khan Road were closed to traffic.
Drivers were advised to use Mai Kolachi Road and Boat Basin as alternate routes. Aiwan-i-Sadr Road was later closed from Fountain Chowk towards Thana Gali.
Both lanes of Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road were also closed from PIDC towards the Ziauddin signal. The closures also caused heavy traffic on several nearby roads.
Traffic police reported congestion on both lanes of Khayaban-i-Iqbal Road from Teen Talwar towards Sindh Club Chowk and Fountain Chowk.
Sindh Club Road was also affected. Traffic was slow on both lanes of Din Muhammad Wafai Road from MR Kiyani Chowrangi and Shaheen Complex towards PIDC.
Jinnah Bridge also faced traffic problems from the Jinnah Bridge Roundabout towards Mai Kolachi.
Police said officers were present at the affected points and were managing the traffic.
What are the Karachi protest lawyers demanding?
According to Dawn, the protesters had 14 demands. The main demand was the creation of new administrative units or provinces in Sindh.
Several political groups have also called for more provinces or administrative units to improve governance.
The lawyer said the protesters were also demanding an end to government interference in corporate farming.
Other issues raised by the protesters included the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments, mineral mining in Karunjhar and the release of political prisoners.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan has also called for Karachi to be made a separate province from Sindh.
MQM-P is an ally of the federal government led by the PML-N. However, the Pakistan Peoples Party, which rules Sindh, has strongly opposed the idea of making Karachi a separate province.