Karachi
Public transport remained off the city on Tuesday on the second day of violence, with the transporters alleging that the law-enforcement agencies had failed to provide security to them.
Moreover, the continuous closure of petrol and CNG stations all over the city despite the presence of law-enforcement agencies there added to the woes of the motorists and the motorcyclists, especially on the M A Jinnah Road and Sharea Faisal.
One petrol pump in the New Town area just opposite the office of the DIG (East Zone) dared to stay open for business for a while before it was forced by some armed men to close.
Yasir, who had been one of the many motorcyclists and motorists queuing up at the petrol station to fill their vehicles up, told The News that two armed men on a motorcycle pulled up and threatened the petrol station staff to close it or they would set it alight.
He said that the people present there were flabbergasted to see how the armed riders managed to have their way in the presence of the police.
The News spoke with many people who had hoped to chance upon a bus or a taxi or a rickshaw to get them to their destinations but were disappointed to find none after agonizingly long waits.
The total closure of markets had rendered those people in a tight corner whose grocery had run dry.
Perhaps the hardest hit were those who had not had any chemists open to buy their medicines from.