The PML-F had given call of a shutter-down strike and black day against the misbehaviour of the PPP lawmakers with the female MPAs of the Functional League during the Sindh Assembly session a few days back. According to the leadership of the PML-F, this call for a strike was also against the Sindh Peoples Local Government Act (SPLGA) 2012, which was fell on deaf ears as residents of central Karachi and other major areas failed to respond to it. The metropolis remained open for all types of routine activities, and shops and markets in the financial hub remained open for business throughout the day. Availability of public transport was also not a problem, while all petrol pumps and CNG stations in the city remained open for customers.
A complete shutter down strike was, however, observed in the Sindhi-dominated areas. The areas included Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Steel Town, Safoora Goth, Ayoub Goth, Sachal Goth, Bhitaiabad, Gulistan-e-Johar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Malir, Bin Qasim town, Hussain Hazara, Rabia city, Shar Goth, Abdullah Shah Ghazi goth, Faqeera goth, Brohi goth, were shut to show solidarity with the PML-F and SBC.On the other hand, Pir Sabghit-u-llah Shah Rashidi (Pir Pagara), Chief of PML-F has termed this strike call very successful and thanked the people of Karachi and Sindh in this regard.
Pir Pagara said this while addressing a press conference along with Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah here at Raja House. Leaders of many other parties were also available on the occasion. He alleged that more than 20 workers and leaders of the PML-F and parties of the SBC have been booked by the Karachi police from various areas. He said that the government had planned for bloodshed today but we saved Sindh from it, stopping our workers from aiding the plan of the government.
"President Asif Ali Zardari had planned attacks on our rallies in interior Sindh, which is actually an attack on the solidarity of Sindh and we would not have tolerated the PPP anymore" Pir Pagara warned. He said that this is fourth time in history that the people of Sindh have demonstrated their protest and this is like a referendum of Sindhis against the PPP.
The head of Hur Jamaat further said that PPP's lawmakers who used abusive language in the Sindh Assembly against our lady MPAs used bullets in the interior of Sindh to stop our protest. Pir Pagara said that the PML-F has not supported the Kala Bagh Dam, the Lahore High Court should have not give a verdict in its favor, its a matter of the CCI. He said that the PPP has always sold Sindh for their minor interests and now they also doing same to achieve the next government, the petitioner in the Lahore High Court is the man of the ruling party, he alleged.
Pir Pagara further said that the SPLGA is a black act which has divided Sindh in to two separate systems; the Sindhi people would do their utmost to resist this black law. "The PPP government is pushing Sindh towards civil war, taking steps to divide Sindh into two systems. The SPLGA was an attempt to divide the province. We will not allow anyone to implement this system in Sindh. We will resist it", Pir Pagara warned. Replying to another question, he said that the PML-F would hold big public gatherings in Hyderabad on December 16, and millions of people would come there to give a verdict against the PPP and its black law of the local government, he concluded.