KARACHI – The city of lights kept up to its name on Tuesday night as almost every area was decorated with lights and flags to celebrate the Eid Miladun Nabi today (Wednesday). The mosques, especially those in the old city area of Kharadar, were beautifully illuminated.
The Sunni Tehreek (ST) staged a rally from Liaquatabad No 10 to Kharadar. A large number of people in cars, buses and on motorcycles participated in the rally. Smaller rallies were also arranged that joined the main procession that started from Liaquatabad. ST leaders offered prayers at Dakhana Stop and the procession started after ‘qirat’ and ‘naat’.
The rally was led by ST chief Sarwat Ejaz Qadri and other leaders of the organisation including Shahid Ghauri and Muhammad Siraj also present on the occasion. The procession made brief stops at Teen Hatti Chowk, Guru Mandir, near Numaish Chowk and Burns Road before finally heading for the Chuttan Shah Shrine in Kharadar.
The rally was scheduled to be held at 5pm, but started at around 8pm. The law enforcers sealed off the roads leading towards Liaquatabad, Teen Hatti, Guru Mandir, Numaish Chowk and MA Jinnah Road for the rally. The closure of these roads three hours prior to the rally and onwards caused massive traffic gridlocks at various roads and areas including II Chundrigar Road, Hassan Square and Golimar.
Traffic plan announced: The Karachi traffic police on Tuesday issued its traffic plan for the 12th of Rabiul Awwal (today) to facilitate the participants of the processions celebrating the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Several main roads of the city would be closed for vehicular traffic due to the route of processions.
According to details, four small and three large processions would be taken out from various areas of the city. The large processions from Kakri Ground and New Memon Masjid would move on their assigned routes to end at their respective destinations. The roads coming from Lea Market, Agra Taj and Kharadar would be blocked to streamline the procession from Kakri Ground. The streets and roads adjacent to the procession route would also be blocked and Nishtar Road, Sharah-e-Liaquat, Preedy Street and MA Jinnah Road would be used as alternate routes for traffic.
The traffic police have deployed their 800 personnel at the procession route and alternate roads. The vehicles wanting to join the procession would be provided special stickers for participation. Special chiraghaan (illuminations) has been arranged on both sides of Nawab Siddiq Ali Khan Road from Golimar Chowrangi No 1 to the Lasbela Bridge and all vehicular traffic would be stopped from passing through the said routes after Isha prayer.
The following alternate routes can be used for traffic: The vehicular traffic coming from Gurumandir via Business Recorder Road to Lasbela Chowk would be diverted to Nishter Road, which would proceed to destination via Teen Hatti, Daak Khana and Golimar Chowrangi. However, heavy traffic would not be allowed to ply the roads. The traffic coming from New Karachi, North Nazimabad and SITE would be diverted from Golimar Chowrangi No 1 towards Daak Khana, Liaquatabad and then proceed to their respective areas via Teen Hatti, Jahangir Road and Gurumandir.
No vehicle would be allowed to park along the Nawab Siddiq Ali Khan Road from Golimar Chowrangi No 1 to Lasbela Bridge. The traffic police have requested the people to follow these alternate routes so that traffic inconvenience could be avoided.
